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Company succession

Company succession

Company succession is one of the main challenges facing commercial SMEs in Germany.

Nationwide, the number of small and medium-sized companies looking for a successor each year is increasing. In Rhineland-Palatinate alone, a good 9,000 businesses are due to be taken over in the next four years. This is according to estimates from the starter centers, the contact points for business start-ups in the state.

Succession planning in companies, especially in family-run businesses, is a considerable challenge in the Mayen-Koblenz district too. Many company owners are preparing for their well-earned retirement, but the search for a suitable successor to ensure the continuity and future of the company is often difficult. Many self-employed entrepreneurs are looking for an external successor because no successor is available from the family or employees. At the same time, there are many committed entrepreneurs and business founders who want to take over or continue an existing company.

The challenge of "company succession" is extensive and can only be answered individually for each company. Not only commercial, legal, tax and financial aspects play a role. It is also difficult to deal with the emotional aspects of securing or succeeding a company.

Further information on company succession can be found in the Rhineland-Palatinate 2023 Succession Report published by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The aim of every company handover should be to carry it out in good time and professionally prepared in order to ensure the continued existence of the company and thus the long-term preservation of jobs. The biggest challenge in securing the long-term future of a company is finding a suitable successor. Not only must the professional qualifications be right, but the successor must also fit in with the company. In addition, customers and employees must accept the successor.

It is generally a good idea to use nexxt-change, Germany's largest search platform for business successors. Here, every user has the opportunity to search the existing database and respond to one of the advertisements from company providers or buyers.

The conclusion from the report

  • Around a third of the Rhineland-Palatinate entrepreneurs aged 55 and over surveyed have not yet addressed the issue of succession planning.
  • Three out of ten entrepreneurs aged 65 and over do not want to hand over their business in the next five years.
  • Two out of ten of those surveyed had not yet started planning the succession process one to two years before the desired handover.
  • Around a third of respondents believe that the main reason for delaying succession planning is the supposedly still distant handover date.
  • Seven out of ten entrepreneurs see the search for a suitable successor as the biggest challenge in the succession process
  • If the planning has already been completed, this challenge is perceived much less strongly by the respondents, but still remains the biggest obstacle.
  • Just under half of entrepreneurs would like to have a succession plan within the family.
  • For four out of ten entrepreneurs, selling their own company is the preferred transfer method.
  •  In addition to personal challenges such as illness or accidents, business factors such as transformation, digitalization and increased costs are a burden.
  • As we know that a planned company handover is a sensitive issue, we support and advise you in complete confidence. Our advantage is that we are independent. Get in touch with us.

SUCCESSOR

One of the most important tasks for securing a company in the long term is the regulation of company succession. For this reason, the Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft am Mittelrhein mbH (WFG) has supported the SUCCESSOR project at Koblenz University of Applied Sciences from the very beginning.

The SUCCESSOR project enables those interested in succession to gain practical experience in the field of company succession and offers a platform for exchange between students and established entrepreneurs in order to provide insights and knowledge about succession planning and company management.

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