Legal Question in Business Law in California
if sahres are issued by trust for LLC company is trust is obligated to buy shares back? There is no buy back obligation then how do I get my investment back?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Unfortunately this question is confusing because LLCs don't have shares, corporations do. If you have invested money in a LLC , you get your investment back thru the profits based on the membership agreement...
LLCs usually don't have shares. However, there is no reason why an LLC could not call its units of economic interest "shares," and I believe this, although rare, has occurred.
As to question #1, whether an issuer of shares has an obligation to repurchase them usually depends upon its contract with the buyer. Have you looked at your purchase agreement to see whether it contains a buy-back provision? A duty on the part of an issuer to "buy back" or otherwise redeem securities could also arise from a court or regulatory decision or a voluntary settlement agreement after a lawsuit or regulatory investigation. I would think any of these situations would be unusual.
As to question #2, in general the process of turning any investment back into cash involves finding a buyer for it. With publicly-traded securities that are listed on an exchange, you call your broker. If, however, your investment is a little company with no public market for its securities, you'll have to shop around, and use your intuition and resources to find a buyer that will (a) pay you an acceptable price, and (b) when the securities involve an LLC or a small corporation, you may have to find a buyer who will meet the company's criteria for an owner. In other words, small-business securities may have a variety of built-in restrictions on their purchase, sale, and exercise of their rights and privileges.