AIT Laboratories appears set for ESOP-WEB ONLY

Fast-growing AIT Laboratories says it will make “a major announcement” tomorrow with Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock – perhaps the state’s biggest booster of employee stock ownership plans, or ESOPs.

A spokesman for Mourdock and an AIT spokeswoman would not comment on whether AIT is forming an ESOP, a structure that would shift ownership of the privately held Indianapolis firm to rank-and-file employees.

ESOPs essentially function as a retirement plan for employees, who borrow money to buy a stake in the company from the owner. As the loan is paid back out of profits, employees get company stock based on their longevity and salaries.

The arrangement is attractive to employees and employers alike because workers benefit directly from the company’s success, and thus have a strong incentive to help it prosper. ESOPs also help ensure that businesses remain locally owned and locally based.

Mourdock began crusading for employee ownership plans shortly after being elected state treasurer in November 2006. Last year, he launched a program that made $50 million in financing available to firms undertaking ESOPs.

Before getting into politics, Mourdock spent 16 years at Koester Cos., an Evansville-based mining company with an ESOP. After leaving the company, he initially supported himself by selling back his Koester stock.

“Literally, I wouldn’t be sitting here [in the treasurer’s office] if it weren’t for my involvement in an ESOP company,” he told IBJ last year.

Dr. Michael Evans founded AIT in 1990, and it now has 300 employees. The firm provides testing for physicians, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.

The company’s been on a tear lately. On June 25, Evans surprised workers by doling out $2 million in mid-year bonuses. He said the payout was justified because revenue in the first five months of the year had risen 93 percent from the same period a year earlier.