Selling your company — discreet, structured, on equal footing.

The question of value is the starting point of every sale process. In practice three valuation logics are applied in parallel: net asset value (assets minus liabilities), income value or Discounted Cash Flow (future earnings), and market multiples (comparable transactions in the sector). Each method illuminates a different angle — a robust range only emerges from combining them.

A clear, thorough introduction to the three approaches can be found in What is my company worth?. Important: the market price is not the theoretical value but the amount a specific buyer is willing to pay in a specific situation. A structured process with several bidders typically lifts that market price significantly.

IGCP is based in Vienna and a large share of our mandates concerns Austrian companies. The process is the same as anywhere else; what is specifically Austrian sits in the legal formalities and in taxation. The transfer of shares in an Austrian GmbH requires a notarial deed (Notariatsakt, § 76 para. 2 GmbHG), and the change of shareholders is then registered in the Firmenbuch, the Austrian company register — only a registered shareholder counts as such towards the company (§ 78 GmbHG).

For an individual selling shares held as private assets, the capital gain is taxed at the special rate of 27.5 % (§ 27a EStG). The sale of a sole proprietorship, a partnership interest or an asset deal creates a gain under § 24 EStG taxed at progressive rates, with three mutually exclusive reliefs: a tax-free allowance of EUR 7,300, spreading the gain over three years, or — for sellers who have reached the age of 60 and cease their active working life, or in cases of incapacity or death — the half-rate taxation under § 37 para. 5 EStG, each subject to a seven-year holding period. Since 1 July 2025 real estate transfer tax on share deals is triggered when at least 75 % of the shares in a company holding Austrian real estate are transferred or united (previously 95 %), aggregated over a seven-year period.

In an asset deal, employment relationships transfer to the acquirer under § 3 AVRAG; under § 38 UGB the acquirer of a business takes over its business-related contracts and is liable for existing debts unless liability is excluded, registered and communicated to creditors, and § 1409 ABGB adds a mandatory liability for debts the acquirer knew or should have known about, capped at the value of the assets taken over. Tax and legal advice rests with the seller's tax adviser and lawyer in Austria as in Germany; we coordinate both and negotiate the commercial terms. Further reading: Asset deal in Austria.

Strategic buyers and financial investors think differently — and they offer different things. Strategics buy the company because it fits their own market position: higher synergy potential, often a higher price, but also deeper integration with all its consequences for brand, sites and staff. Financial investors buy in order to develop and resell in a few years: more independence, often more flexibility on the seller's role, but typically more sober price negotiations.

A deeper comparison — including who really fits which owner objective — is provided in Strategic buyer or financial investor?. Often the best solution is to sound out both worlds in parallel and let the market decide.