Succession exchange or M&A advisor? What really lifts the price

A succession exchange brings supply and demand together. A structured, confidential M&A process brings selected buyers to the table at the same time. The difference shows where it counts: in the negotiating position and thus in the purchase price.

Succession exchanges are a sensible entry point — free or inexpensive, with broad reach. But they are a marketplace, not a process. What an external succession with structured buyer approach looks like is described on our service page.

When is a succession exchange enough, when do you need an M&A advisor?

A succession exchange is enough if the business is small and easily transferable and a single suitable interested party suffices; a guided process is worthwhile as soon as value, complexity or confidentiality are so high that several buyers have to be approached in parallel and offers compared. What is decisive is not the tool, but whether you wait for responses or determine the circle of buyers yourself.

The starting position in the market argues for care in choosing the route:

Indicator	Value	Source, status
Current, anonymised listings on nexxt-change	around 8,000	DIHK-Report Unternehmensnachfolge 2025, July 2025
Companies for which nexxt-change has initiated matches since 2006	more than 21,000	DIHK-Report Unternehmensnachfolge 2025, July 2025
IHK counselling of previous owners 2024	almost 10,000	DIHK-Report Unternehmensnachfolge 2025, July 2025
IHK counselling of those interested in a takeover 2024	a good 4,000	DIHK-Report Unternehmensnachfolge 2025, July 2025
Previous owners with excessive purchase price demand according to IHKs	36 %	DIHK-Report Unternehmensnachfolge 2025, July 2025
Mittelstand companies that see suitable successors as an obstacle	69 %	KfW Research, Nachfolge-Monitoring Mittelstand 2025, 09.01.2026
Takeovers in Austria 2025	8,202	WKO, 27.08.2026

Sources: DIHK-Report Unternehmensnachfolge 2025; KfW Research, Fokus Volkswirtschaft Nr. 526; WKO, record year for business successions; all retrieved on 28.09.2026.

Arithmetically, in IHK counselling there are more than two companies for every person interested in a takeover. Those who want to sell therefore compete with other sellers for attention — a listing alone does not answer this competition.

What is a succession exchange?

A succession exchange is an online platform on which owners offer their company for sale anonymously and those interested in a takeover post purchase requests. The best known are, in Germany, nexxt-change — supported, among others, by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, the KfW, the DIHK, the ZDH and the savings bank and cooperative associations — and, in Austria, the WKO succession exchange, which the WKO describes as a free service for those handing over and those taking over. An overview of the platforms is given by Business exchanges compared.

What a succession exchange achieves — and where it reaches its limits

Exchanges lower the entry hurdle: they cost little, are quickly set up and reach many searchers. For small, easily transferable businesses they regularly find the suitable successor — the more than 21,000 matches initiated on nexxt-change demonstrate this.

Their limits lie in the nature of the marketplace:

• Anonymous does not mean unrecognisable. Listings appear without the company name. Industry, region, revenue size and number of employees, however, are often enough in a regional market for competitors, suppliers or employees to recognise the company.
• The process is passive. One waits to see who responds, instead of approaching specifically the buyers for whom the company has the highest strategic value.
• Enquiries come one after another, not at the same time. Without parallel conversations there is no comparison — and thus no basis for classifying an offer as good or weak.
• Pre-screening is missing. Whether an interested party can finance the takeover often becomes apparent late. According to the DIHK, almost four in ten of those interested in a takeover report financing problems to the IHKs.

Why the circle of buyers decides the price

The most important lever for the price is not the formula, but competition. Those who only wait for responses from an exchange often have one or two interested parties. Those who proceed in a structured way approach a curated selection of potential buyers in a targeted way — strategic acquirers from the industry, financial investors, MBO and MBI candidates.

Several serious interested parties reviewing in parallel create exactly the competition that protects the price. There is no robust, generally valid figure for by how many percent a guided process raises the purchase price compared with an exchange — published values come from individual observations and are not collected on a comparable basis. What can be evidenced is the starting position: more offers than demand and widespread excessive price expectations make a sale without comparative offers difficult. Which buyer type fits your objectives is put in context by “Strategic buyer or financial investor?”.

The structured, confidential process

A guided process does not begin with the listing, but with preparation:

1. Valuation: a realistic value range before any buyer is approached.
2. Documents: short profile (teaser) without name, information memorandum, later a data room.
3. Buyer list: curated by industry, strategy and financing power.
4. Confidentiality: confidentiality agreement before any disclosure of names and figures.
5. Bidding process: from a broad market test to a few serious interested parties, with indicative and binding offers.
6. Negotiation and contract: purchase price, structure, warranties, transition.

What this process looks like in detail is shown by “The process of a company sale”. We run a confidential sales process with several bidders for owners in Austria and Germany.

The decision at a glance

Criterion	Succession exchange	Guided M&A process
Cost	free or low	fee, mostly with a success-dependent share
Buyer approach	passive, whoever responds	active, curated list
Confidentiality	anonymised listing, recognition possible	teaser without name, disclosure only after confidentiality agreement
Comparison of offers	rare, enquiries individually	aim of the procedure
Pre-screening of buyers	by the owner himself	before disclosure
Suitable for	small, easily transferable businesses	valuable, more complex companies

What an advisor costs and how fees are structured is shown in What does an M&A advisor cost?.

Patterns from practice: when changing the route makes sense

Two constellations recur. They are described here without reference to individual mandates.

1. The listing brings enquiries, but no offers. A craft business has been on an exchange for months. Founders without equity respond, and a competitor who mainly wants to see the customer list. Remedy: pause the listing, prepare documents, take interested parties into conversations only after a confidentiality agreement and proof of financing.

2. A single interested party dictates the price. A company with solid earning power receives an offer via the exchange — the only one. Without comparison it cannot be judged whether it is in line with the market. Remedy: before accepting, determine an independent value range and examine whether a targeted approach to further buyers is realistic.

When the exchange is enough — and when not

To remain honest: for a small, simple business in which the effort of a structured process is out of proportion to the value, a succession exchange can be the right route.

For a valuable, more complex company — with earning power, substance or strategic attractiveness — the structured, confidential process is the lever. Those who are unsure on which side their own business lies can first determine the value range before the first listing.

The two do not in principle exclude each other. The IGCP succession exchange, for instance, combines an optionally anonymous listing with the rule that interested parties contact us first and not the owner — so the reach of the listing is retained without giving up control over disclosure. Figures on completed mandates and typical company sizes are in the track record.

Frequently asked questions

Does a succession exchange make sense?

As a low-threshold entry point yes, especially for small, easily transferable businesses. It is free or inexpensive and has great reach; according to the DIHK there are around 8,000 current listings on nexxt-change. For valuable or complex companies, however, it lacks the active comparison of several buyers.

Does an M&A advisor really raise the purchase price?

There is no generally valid percentage, and no result can be guaranteed credibly. The lever lies in competition: several vetted buyers bidding in parallel improve the negotiating position compared with a single interested party from an exchange.

What is the difference between a succession exchange and an M&A advisor?

The exchange is a marketplace on which one waits to see who responds. The M&A advisor runs an active, confidential process: valuation, targeted buyer approach, bidder competition and negotiation. The difference lies in discretion, circle of buyers and comparability of offers.

Can I combine the two?

Yes, if the listing stays anonymous and enquiries run via an intermediary who vets interested parties before disclosure and obtains a confidentiality agreement. An open listing with direct contact details alongside a confidential process does not make sense — discretion once given up does not come back.

On choosing an advisor in the Austrian market: M&A advisors in Austria. For sales across Austria we support as M&A advisory in Vienna.