Companies for Sale: Where the Listings Are and How to Find Them

"Business for sale" is one of the most searched terms around business succession — but only a share of businesses are publicly offered for sale. Anyone buying seriously has to know the public platforms, put their limits in context and find additional routes into the hidden market. Anyone selling decides very early how much discretion to prefer over price.

If you do not want to wait for listings, the active route is described under buying a business.

How we guide owners through business succession is set out on our services page.

This article sets out where businesses for sale actually appear, how serious listings differ from unserious ones, why many deals are not public — and what that means for both sides. IGCP Capital Partners does not operate a public marketplace of sale offers; we guide buyers and sellers through individually managed M&A processes.

Where are businesses for sale — the public channels

The publicly accessible market for businesses for sale in the German-speaking region is spread across a few major platforms and a series of smaller portals. Position per source, each retrieved on 6 October 2026:

Channel	Operator	Cost	Scale per source
nexxt-change (DE)	BMWE, KfW, DIHK, ZDH, BVR, DSGV	free	431 regional partners; some 22,300 initiated handovers since 2006 (KfW Fokus 526)
WKO succession exchange (AT)	Austrian Economic Chambers	free	861 listings in the results list
DUB (DE/Europe)	private	self-reported: listing free for sellers, 2 % brokerage fee for buyers on completion only	"over 5,000 vetted companies" (self-reported)

nexxt-change is Germany's largest succession exchange. It is operated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) together with KfW and the partners DIHK, ZDH, BVR and DSGV. Listings are free and supported through regional partners such as chambers of industry and commerce, crafts chambers, savings banks and cooperative banks. How many listings are currently online is not shown on the home page — that figure is not measured. On behalf of the BMWE, KfW is rebuilding the platform as "nexxt-change 2.0" (KfW Fokus 526, 9 Jan 2026).

The WKO succession exchange is the Austrian counterpart, run by the Economic Chamber. Free, reputable, strongly rooted regionally, with anonymised listings and filters by industry and region. For the Austrian Mittelstand it is the natural first port of call.

The Deutsche Unternehmerbörse (DUB) is the best-known private platform. By its own account, listing is free for sellers and buyers pay a brokerage fee of 2 per cent on completion only; older third-party sources still quote monthly prices for listings. Terms change — check them directly with the provider before listing. The DUB also publishes quarterly industry multiples based on assessments by M&A advisors.

Succession exchanges run by chambers and associations complete the picture — from the IHK exchange through regional initiatives to industry-specific offerings (in the trades or the liberal professions, for example).

How these portals work in practice, what they cost and which suits which type of business is compared in Business-for-sale platforms compared; how a listing and first contact work in practice is explained in Business-for-sale platforms.

How big is the market really?

There are no reliable overall figures for businesses currently for sale, because the hidden market is not captured statistically. What can be evidenced is the need:

Germany: the KfW succession monitor counts around 545,000 of 3.87 million SMEs with a succession wish by the end of 2029, about 109,000 a year. 42 per cent of owners planning succession consider a sale to outsiders; 55 per cent would prefer a solution within the family (KfW Fokus 526).

Austria: between 2025 and 2034, according to the Ministry of Economy (BMWET), some 52,500 companies, excluding one-person businesses, face a handover — just under 23 per cent of all employer companies. In 2025, 8,202 businesses changed hands according to the WKO start-up service, the highest figure since records began in 1998 (WKO Vorarlberg).

The need thus far exceeds what is ever publicly listed at any one time. For buyers that means: anyone who only reads listings sees one slice.

Telling serious listings from unserious ones

Anyone going through the results lists of the platforms quickly meets large differences in quality. A few touchstones by which serious offers can be recognised:

• Comprehensible key figures. Revenue band, earnings measure (EBITDA or EBIT) and headcount should at least roughly be stated. An offer without any figure is rarely serious — or a very small business sits behind it whose operator considers figures irrelevant.
• Honest reasons for handover. Age-related succession, health reasons, strategic realignment — plausible motives. Vague phrases such as "for personal reasons" without context merit follow-up questions.
• Anonymity with substance. An anonymous listing is normal and sensible. But anyone who cannot supply reliable documents even after a signed confidentiality agreement either has none or is not selling seriously.
• A realistic price expectation. If a listing asks for a multiple that is unusual for the industry without justifying it (special IP, customer contracts, locations, say), caution is warranted. For orientation: KfW estimates the average target sale price of an SME at around EUR 499,000, with a median of EUR 375,000 — owners' expectations, not market prices (KfW Fokus 526).
• No advance payment. Serious sellers do not ask prospective buyers for "reservation fees" or the like before any review.

On the buyer side there are mirror-image warning signs: professional advisors ask structured questions about financing, experience and timetable — they do not demand advance payments for "access to exclusive mandates".

Why many businesses are not listed publicly

One insight for buyers: a considerable share of Mittelstand sales do not run through public platforms. There is no reliable statistic on this; it is an assessment from advisory practice, and it holds all the more strongly the larger the company. There are structural reasons.

Discretion is value. As soon as it becomes known that a company is for sale, relationships with employees, customers, suppliers and competitors change. Key people ask about their future, large customers renew contracts more hesitantly, competitors talk to customers. A public listing, even anonymised, increases the risk of identification — the smaller the region and the more specialised the niche, the faster.

Buyer quality over buyer count. Public platforms generate enquiries, but not every one leads to a serious buyer. Owners of larger companies prefer a managed process with a few carefully selected parties over many unqualified enquiries.

Preparation effort. A professionally prepared information memorandum, a clean financial fact book, a structured investor approach — no platform delivers that; an M&A advisor does. Without that preparation, the full price can generally not be achieved.

Tax and legal complexity. Beyond a certain size, a sale without structured negotiation, data room and legal support no longer makes sense — and a platform brings none of that structure. According to KfW, 45 per cent of companies see bureaucratic pitfalls and 32 per cent legal or tax complexity as a succession hurdle (KfW Fokus 526).

For sellers weighing whether a platform or a managed process fits, the article Succession platform or M&A advisor puts both routes in context.

How buyers get real deal flow

Anyone who, as a buyer — entrepreneur, MBI candidate, family office or investor — seriously wants to acquire a company typically combines several channels. KfW notes that external successions, compared with handovers within the family, involve stronger information asymmetries and greater effort and time (search, planning, price determination, negotiation). That argues for a structured approach.

Public platforms as background noise: nexxt-change, the WKO succession exchange, DUB, chamber exchanges. Suitable above all for smaller businesses and regional searches.

Direct approach to target companies: identify a list of companies in the desired sector and size segment and approach their owners discreetly. Very effective, but laborious and hard to scale without a network.

M&A advisors as access to mandates that are not public. Advisors typically know owners who want to sell in the coming years but are not yet running an active process — a lead time that public platforms do not offer.

Networks and databases. Tax advisors, lawyers, banks and industry associations are an important source of confidential intentions to sell. IGCP operates an investor database in which active buyers register their search profiles and are informed of matching situations — without a public listing.

Combinations. Anyone who wants both to search actively and to be visible combines a search profile with direct advisor support.

What owners who want to sell themselves should consider

A public listing on a succession platform is a legitimate option, especially for smaller businesses with a local buyer pool. Three principles matter:

Phrase it so anonymised that conclusions are hard to draw. Industry plus region plus revenue band is often enough for locals to identify the business. The narrower the niche, the coarser the details.

Prepare before publishing. Valuation, clean figures for the last three years, orderly contracts and a realistic timetable should be in place before the first listing goes live. Anyone who improvises after listing loses negotiating position. Whether the planned asking price fits the sector can be checked in advance against adjusted EBITDA and a sector multiple; the free calculator returns an indicative value range, not a valuation opinion. The DIHK recommends starting concrete planning and the search for a successor at the latest three years before the desired handover (quoted in KfW Fokus 526).

Clear rules for enquiries. Who may make contact, which documents are released when, in what form confidentiality is signed — clarify before the first click, not after.

Anyone who wants the process managed professionally rather than played out in public will find a structured process and cost framework under selling a business. Buyers actively working on deal flow will find the framework under buying a business.

FAQ

Where do I find businesses that are for sale?

The central public channels in the German-speaking region are nexxt-change (Germany), the WKO succession exchange (Austria), private platforms such as the DUB, and chamber succession exchanges. A substantial share of sale mandates — especially in the upper Mittelstand — does not run publicly, however, but through M&A advisors and networks.

Are offers on business-for-sale platforms reputable?

The large platforms themselves are reputable, but the quality of individual listings varies widely. Serious offers state at least rough key figures and plausible reasons for the handover, and do not demand advance fees. Caution is called for with very low prices without justification, missing documents after an NDA or payment demands before any review.

Why do I not find attractive businesses on the platforms?

Many sales in the upper segment are not listed publicly, because for owners discretion matters more than reach. These mandates run through M&A advisors and networks — access requires either a robust buyer presentation or an existing relationship with the advisor.

How many businesses are currently for sale in Germany?

There are no reliable overall figures, because the hidden market is not captured statistically; the number of listings currently on nexxt-change is not measured. The DUB states over 5,000 vetted companies (self-reported, retrieved 6 Oct 2026). The KfW succession monitor counts around 545,000 of 3.87 million SMEs with a succession wish by the end of 2029 — many times what is ever publicly listed at the same time.

Which is better: a platform or an M&A advisor?

For smaller, regionally transferable businesses a platform may be enough. For larger or complex companies, a managed process with structured buyer competition generally creates better conditions for the price — and protects discretion. The article Succession platform or M&A advisor compares both routes.

Does IGCP offer a public list of businesses for sale?

No. IGCP Capital Partners does not operate a public marketplace of sale offers. We guide buyers and sellers through individual, confidential processes. Buyers can register their search profile in our investor database; owners who want to sell can reach us directly for a free initial assessment.

The best succession starts years before closing. Talk to IGCP Capital Partners early and in confidence — independent, discreet, at eye level. → igcp.at

Sources, retrieved 6 October 2026: KfW Research, Fokus Volkswirtschaft No. 526 (9 Jan 2026); nexxt-change.org; WKO succession exchange; BMWET, business succession; WKO Vorarlberg; dub.de. This article is not a substitute for legal or tax advice.