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

Only a small share of genuinely attractive businesses is ever publicly advertised for sale. Buyers who are serious need to know the public marketplaces, understand their limits and find routes into the off-market segment as well — while owners decide very early how much discretion they are prepared to trade for reach.

For buyers, our approach to buying a company sets out how we source, assess and execute acquisitions.

How we guide owners through business succession is set out on our services page. This article explains where offers of companies for sale actually sit, how to tell credible listings from questionable ones, why the attractive deals are usually not public — and what that means for both sides. IGCP Capital Partners does not operate a public marketplace of businesses for sale; we advise buyers and sellers in individually managed M&A processes.

Where companies for sale are listed — the public channels

The publicly accessible market for businesses for sale in the German-speaking region is concentrated on a few significant platforms and a range of smaller portals.

nexxt-change is the largest German succession exchange. It is run by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action together with KfW, the guarantee banks and the chambers. Listings are free of charge and are supported by regional partners such as the chambers of industry and commerce and the chambers of skilled crafts. At any given time several thousand offers and search requests are listed — from craft businesses to mid-sized industrial suppliers.

The WKO succession exchange is the Austrian equivalent, operated by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. Free of charge, reputable and strongly anchored regionally. For the Austrian Mittelstand it is the obvious first port of call.

Deutsche Unternehmerbörse (DUB) is the best-known private, paid platform. Listings carry a cost, but in return there is editorial reach, valuation and matching tools, and a connection to an adviser network.

Succession exchanges run by chambers and associations complete the picture — from the IHK exchange to regional initiatives and sector-specific offerings, for instance in the skilled trades or the professions.

How these portals work in practice, what they cost and which exchange suits which type of business is compared in business exchanges compared; how a listing and a first contact actually run is explained in the business exchange.

Telling credible listings from questionable ones

Anyone working through the search results on these exchanges quickly runs into wide differences in quality. A few tests by which credible offers can be recognised:

• Verifiable key figures. A revenue range, an earnings measure (EBITDA or EBIT) and a headcount should at least be indicated roughly. An offer with no figures at all is rarely serious — or there is a very small business behind it whose owner does not think figures matter.
• Honest reasons for the handover. Retirement, health, a strategic reorientation — plausible motives. Vague wording such as "for personal reasons" without context is worth questioning.
• Anonymity with substance. An anonymous listing is normal and sensible. But a party who still cannot produce meaningful documentation after a confidentiality agreement has been signed either does not have any or is not seriously selling.
• A realistic price expectation. Where a listing demands a multiple that is unusual for the sector without explaining why (particular intellectual property, customer contracts, locations), caution is warranted.
• No payment up front. Credible sellers do not ask prospective buyers for reservation fees or anything similar before any review has taken place.

There are mirror-image warning signs on the buyer side: professional advisers ask structured questions about financing, experience and timing — they do not demand advance payments for access to exclusive mandates.

Why attractive companies are rarely advertised publicly

Perhaps the most important insight for prospective buyers: most mid-market sales, particularly in the segment from roughly EUR 5 million in revenue upwards, do not run through public exchanges. There are structural reasons for this.

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

Buyer quality rather than buyer numbers. Public exchanges generate a lot of enquiries, but the conversion rate to serious prospective buyers is low. Owners of larger businesses prefer a managed process with five to fifteen carefully selected parties over one hundred unqualified enquiries.

Preparation effort. A professionally prepared information memorandum, a clean financial fact book, a structured investor approach — no exchange delivers that; an M&A adviser does. Without this preparation the full price is generally not achievable.

Tax and legal complexity. Above a certain size a sale no longer makes sense without structured negotiation, a data room and legal support — and an exchange does not bring that structure with it.

For sellers weighing up an exchange against a managed process, succession exchange or M&A adviser sets out both routes.

How buyers get to genuine deal flow

Prospective buyers who are serious about acquiring a business — entrepreneurs, MBI candidates, family offices or investors — typically combine several channels:

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

Direct approaches to target companies: identifying a list of businesses in the desired sector and size bracket and approaching their owners discreetly. Highly effective, but laborious and hard to scale without a network.

M&A advisers as access to mandates that are not public. Advisers typically know owners who intend to sell in the next two to five years but are not yet running an active process — a lead time that public exchanges do not provide.

Networks and databases. Tax advisers, lawyers, banks and sector associations are an important source of confidential sale intentions. IGCP operates an investor database in which active buyers record their search profiles and are told about matching situations — with no public listing.

Combining the two. Buyers who want to search actively and be visible at the same time combine a search profile with direct adviser support. The IGCP succession exchange, for instance, allows anonymous listings on both the seller and the buyer side and is complemented by a personal M&A review.

What owners who want to sell themselves should bear in mind

A public listing on a succession exchange is a legitimate option, particularly for businesses below roughly EUR 3 million in revenue with a local buyer universe. Three principles matter:

Word it so anonymously that inferences are hard. Sector plus region plus revenue band is often enough for anyone who knows the area to identify the business. The narrower the niche, the coarser the detail should be.

Prepare before publishing. A valuation, clean figures for the last three years, contracts in order and a realistic timetable should all be in place before the first listing goes live. Improvising after publication costs negotiating position.

Clear rules for enquiries. Who may make contact, which documents go out and when, in what form confidentiality is signed — settle all of that before the first click, not after.

Owners who would rather have the process run professionally than played out in public will find the structure and the cost framework under selling your company. Buyers working actively on deal flow will find the framework under buying a company.

FAQ

Where do I find companies that are for sale?

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

Are listings on business exchanges credible?

The large exchanges themselves are reputable, but the quality of individual listings varies a great deal. Credible offers give at least rough key figures and plausible reasons for the handover, and ask for no fees up front. Be cautious where prices are very low without explanation, where no documents follow an NDA, or where payment is demanded before any review.

Why can I not find attractive companies on the exchanges?

Most mid-market sales in the upper segment are not publicly advertised, because discretion matters more to owners than reach. Those mandates run through M&A advisers and networks — access requires either a credible buyer presentation or an existing relationship with the adviser.

How many companies are currently for sale in Germany?

There are no reliable overall figures, because the off-market segment is not captured statistically. Publicly visible on nexxt-change and DUB together are several thousand offers at any one time. KfW succession monitoring assumes that around 545,000 owners in Germany plan a succession by 2029 — a multiple of what is ever advertised publicly at the same time.

Which is better: an exchange or an M&A adviser?

For smaller businesses that transfer well regionally, an exchange may be enough. For larger or more complex companies, a managed process with structured buyer competition generally achieves a materially higher purchase price — and protects discretion. Succession exchange or M&A adviser compares both routes.

Does IGCP publish a list of companies for sale?

No. IGCP Capital Partners does not operate a public marketplace of businesses for sale. We advise buyers and sellers in individual, confidential processes. Prospective buyers can record their search profile in our investor database; owners looking to sell can reach us through our succession exchange or directly for a free initial assessment.

The best succession begins years before closing. Talk to IGCP Capital Partners early and in confidence — independent, discreet, on equal terms. → igcp.at