Succession is the decision most owners postpone the longest – and the one that needs the most lead time. Whether the business stays in the family, goes to the management team or is sold to an external successor: the articles in this section lay out the options, the timelines and the tax consequences.
How we support owners in business succession is set out on our services page; regional specifics are covered under business succession in Austria and business succession in Germany.
30 articles
Before a succession can be arranged, it has to be clarified: whether, when and to whom you hand over.
The best time is rarely the one when you have to.
A transferable company runs without its owner.
Succession is not an event but a process over years.
Passing a company to a successor in an orderly way: the key decisions, the phases and the right lead time — the guide to a business …
Arranging a succession is more than choosing a successor: it means putting the handover in order legally, organisationally and fiscally …
Step by step from preparation through valuation and negotiation to the transfer — the business handover checklist plus the most common …
What happens if the owner suddenly fails: by legal form, with power of attorney, Prokura and emergency managing director.
Even a 100% sale is a succession and must be well structured.
Family-internal, MBO/MBI, external sale, partial sale or a foundation: the succession solutions at a glance — and which one fits your goals.
No child who wants to take over — now what?
To whom you can hand over your firm — family, employees or external — how to decide fairly and which soft factors decide whether it …
Where no successor stands ready in the family, a sale is often the most orderly route to succession.
Owners without a successor face a choice: sell or close the business down.
“Successor wanted” is becoming the norm. Where the listings are, why listings fail, and what those handing over and those taking over need …
Management buy-out or management buy-in? Who takes over the company, the advantages and drawbacks of each path, and when which one fits.
In a management buy-out the existing management buys the company — rarely from equity alone.
How to take over an existing business rather than starting one: what to check, how financing works and where to find businesses.
nexxt-change, the WKO succession exchange and private platforms: what business-for-sale marketplaces deliver, what listings cost and how to …
Which business exchange suits your company? nexxt-change, the WKO succession exchange and the Deutsche Unternehmerbörse compared — …
Where offers of companies for sale actually sit — public marketplaces, chambers of commerce, M&A advisers and the off-market segment …
Sale, gift or inheritance: how tax on business succession broadly works in Austria — an orientation that does not replace tax advice.
85 or 100 per cent of business assets can pass free of German gift and inheritance tax — if the payroll test and the holding period hold.
How to hand over a business in Austria: process, steps, trade licence and tax — the practical overview for owners handing over.
On 12 and 13 October 2026 Karlsruhe hears the inheritance tax cases – on the second day directly on the relief for business assets.
Bring it forward, wait or not gift at all?
Three KfW programmes finance the takeover of a company: StartGeld up to 200,000 euros, ERP-Förderkredit Gründung und Nachfolge up to …
Anyone taking over a business buys the location, customer base, inventory and staff – and everything the predecessor left unsettled.
Many owners treat their company as their retirement plan — without knowing either its after-tax value or their own pension gap.
How many owners in Germany hand over, how many close down — and why KfW and IfM Bonn report such different numbers.
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