Corporate Succession
The mostly preferred succession method in Germany is still the business transfer to the own children. In principle, this is a good approach provided that the transfer is planned duly and the chosen successors are well prepared for their new role.
However, not every entrepreneur is lucky enough to have an appropriate successor willing to take over the business. Especially in such cases the involvement of an experienced M&A advisor should be seriously considered.
This is likely to result in the following solutions for succession settlement:
- Sale to the own management team, also known as management buyout
- Sale to a domestic or foreign competitor
- Sale to a company operating in an unrelated sector, willing to diversify its portfolio
- Sale to a financial investor (e.g. private equity fund, investment company)
- Initial public offering, which poses however, certain requirements to the company with regards to the size and market position
