For those handing over and those taking over
Business succession – lead the handover before it leads you
Whether family, a manager from within or a buyer from outside: handing over a business is more than a contract. I help ensure that leadership, workforce and financing carry the change. On request, I also make the contacts you are still missing.
The starting point
The handover has been decided. It has not yet been planned.
Many business owners have known for years that they will hand over at some point. There are conversations with the family, an appointment with the tax adviser, perhaps an interested party. What is missing is a plan that answers how the business will be led in the time in between and who will carry it afterwards.
Business succession rarely fails because of the contract. It fails because the successor is not given real leadership, because the outgoing owner quietly keeps deciding, because the workforce waits to see what happens and because the bank sees the new plan too late.
Started too late
If you only start planning when health or family force the issue, you have hardly any options left. The price falls, the choice shrinks.
Handed over, but not let go
The name on the door is new, but decisions are still made by the predecessor. The workforce notices immediately and acts accordingly.
The bank is the last to know
Purchase price financing, the outgoing owner’s personal guarantees, the rating of the new leadership: if you discuss these late, you pay for it.
The figures
More than one in five jobs depends on a successful handover.
In Austria, around 51,500 small and medium-sized enterprises face the question of succession between 2020 and 2029. Almost 692,000 jobs depend on these businesses – around 22% of all people employed in businesses with employees.
51,500SMEs facing the succession question, 2020 to 2029
692,000jobs that depend on successful handovers
Source: WKO, “Nachfolge gesucht: Anzahl der Betriebsübergaben steigt”, based on KMU Forschung Austria; figures exclude one-person businesses. To the source (wko.at, in German)
Three routes to a handover
Family, management or sale – each route has its own trap
Which route is right depends on your business, your family and your goals. The questions you need to resolve, however, are foreseeable for each route.
Within the family
Family succession
Handing over to a son or daughter is the most emotional route. It succeeds when roles and decision rights are clear before the first conflict arrives.
- Does the next generation really want to, or are they expected to?
- How are siblings treated who do not take over?
- When does the outgoing owner withdraw from day-to-day business?
From within the company
Handover to employees
In a management buy-out, someone who knows the business takes over. The challenge is usually the financing and the change of role from colleague to boss.
- Can the new leadership finance the purchase price?
- Will the workforce accept a colleague as boss?
- Who takes over the new boss’s previous tasks?
From outside
Sale to an external buyer
A buyer from outside brings capital and often new ideas. For that, the business has to be set up so that it works without the current owner.
- Does the business still depend on you personally?
- Are figures and processes transparent to a buyer?
- How do you retain customers and key staff during the transition?
What I take on
Enquiry, support and contacts on request
You decide how far I accompany you. Some business owners need an honest assessment of where they stand, others a partner for the entire handover period.
Enquiry
Assessment of where you stand
In the first conversation and a subsequent assessment, we clarify where your business stands: how ready is it for a handover, which route fits, and what has to happen first? You receive a clear assessment, even if it is uncomfortable.
Support
Leading the handover
I accompany the handover period: succession plan, induction, new roles, communication to workforce and customers, planning for your main bank. If necessary, I take over leadership as interim manager for a transition period.
Introductions on request
Making contacts
On request, I make contacts from my network: to potential successors and buyers, to financiers and to specialists in law, tax and valuation. I only make introductions where they help you, and I say openly when another route is more promising.
Keeping the bank in view
What your main bank wants to know when a business is handed over
This is where my support differs: I spent more than 20 years on the other side of the table. A bank asks the same questions at every handover, and if you answer them in advance, you negotiate better.
Leadership
Who will lead in future?
The bank does not finance the business but the people who lead it. It wants to see that the new leadership is capable and has been properly inducted.
Financing
How will the purchase price be financed?
Equity, bank loan, vendor loan, public funding: the structure has to match the earning power of the business, not the desired price.
Collateral
What happens to the guarantees?
Personal guarantees and collateral provided by the outgoing owner do not expire automatically. They have to be negotiated, ideally early.
Planning
Does the plan hold up?
A three-year plan that the new boss can stand behind personally. Not an extrapolation of the past, but a picture of the future.
How it works
Four steps to an orderly handover
01
Assessment of where you stand
How ready for handover is your business, which route fits, and what has to happen first? A clear assessment as the foundation.
02
Succession plan
Timetable, roles, induction and the plan for the bank. Coordinated with your tax adviser and legal adviser.
03
Leading the handover
The new leadership is put in place, the workforce informed, customers and suppliers involved. I stay at your side until it holds.
04
Securing the transition
After the handover, we check together whether leadership, figures and customer relationships hold. Open points are named, not postponed.
Useful to know
The Austrian Economic Chamber’s succession exchange
If you are looking for a successor or a business in Austria, there is a public point of contact: the Nachfolgebörse (succession exchange) of the Wirtschaftskammer (Austrian Economic Chamber). It does not replace support, but it is a good place to get to know the market. To the succession exchange (wko.at, in German)
Why me
I know what it means to hand over a company.
With golf-unique.com, I founded, built up and sold a company myself. So I know the position of the business owner who has to let go, and not only from conversations.
Add to that more than 20 years of leadership responsibility in the financial sector, four major transformations in banks and 360 employees led. Leading change in organisations and reading financing from a bank’s perspective is my craft.
Frequently asked questions
What outgoing owners and successors want to know
When should I start planning business succession?
Earlier than most people think. A handover usually needs several years of lead time if the successor is to be inducted, leadership redistributed and the financing agreed with the bank. If you only start when health or family force the issue, you have hardly any options left.
How does this differ from tax and legal advice?
Your tax adviser and lawyer shape the contract, the tax position and the legal form. I take care of what has to happen in the business for the contract to work: leadership, roles, induction, communication and the plan for the bank. Both belong together, and I am glad to work with your specialists.
Can you find a successor or buyer for my business?
On request, I make contacts from my network, to potential successors, buyers and financiers. There is no guarantee of success, and I tell you openly when another route is more promising, for example the succession exchange of the Austrian Economic Chamber.
Do you also carry out the business valuation?
No. A formal business valuation belongs with an auditor or tax adviser. I help you understand the valuation and talk to the bank and the successor about realistic expectations.
I am the successor. Do you also support the side taking over?
Yes. Anyone taking over a business faces the same questions from the other side: how do I win over the workforce, what does the bank say about my plan, and how do I deal with the predecessor who is still in the company? I only ever advise one side, never both at the same time.
What does support for a business handover cost?
That depends on whether you want a one-off assessment of where you stand, support throughout the handover period or help with the search. After the free first conversation you receive an offer that fits your situation.
Clear limits
What I do not take on
- No tax or legal advice. The transfer agreement, tax structuring and company law belong with your specialists. I work alongside them.
- No formal business valuation. That belongs with an auditor or tax adviser.
- No dual role. In a handover I only ever advise one side, never the outgoing owner and the buyer at the same time.
- No guarantee of success in the search. I make contacts where it makes sense. Nobody can seriously promise a buyer.
Next steps
Three ways to get a clearer picture
Self-assessment · 4 minutes
Is a larger restructuring coming up? Sort things out first, then build. 20 statements, instant results.
Sparring
Sparring for managing directors
Think the handover through calmly first, in confidence and without a project mandate.
For companies
Transformation in mid-sized companies
When the business first has to become ready for a handover.
Is a handover coming up for you?
Describe your situation to me in a first conversation or by email to office@slotta.at. In 30 minutes you will know where you stand and what to do next. Free of charge and confidential.