Successful company handover Kluger in the Mühldorfer Anzeiger
Wanner was the “matchmaker” in the successful company handover of Kluger Sondermaschinenbau from Mühldorf. The Mühldorfer Anzeiger has now published a newspaper article about it. It focuses on the special approach to the company handover. You can read the entire article via the link below. Furthermore, a letter of reference from Mr. Kluger can be found under “Top References”. I will not say any more about the project, Mr. Wanner says. After all, discretion is an important part of the work of an M&A professional. In the following, Mr. Wanner explains at least a few typical things that are important for company brokering. But it is important to mention that these things do not have anything to do directly with the Kluger project.
Company handover – The reality
Unfortunately, more and more medium-sized companies are closing down. This can happen because of many reasons. One of them may be that the owners do not have a successor in their own family. Others may be that there is no suitable candidate at the next management level or the financial means for a takeover are lacking.
In most cases, the tax advisor supports the search for a successor with his network or recommends a professional like Wanner.
As with every important topic, there are also specialists in the sale of a company, says Wanner.
You don’t go to the dentist for heart problems. In this respect, the sale of a company, which is typically only carried out once in the owner’s career, should be done by a specialist.
Successful company handovers by Wanner
As can be seen in the various positive references from Wanner, the costs for this professional sales execution are vanishingly small. This is because, according to his clients, Wanner ensures that the entrepreneur can pursue his actual business unhindered. Meanwhile Wanner takes over the actual work in the background. Furthermore, by identifying a strategic buyer, he enables a much higher sales price. That is why the commission incurred seems ridiculously low.
It is also interesting to note that Wanner has built up such a large network of prospective buyers over the many years. This means that very interesting opportunities arise through this sales channel alone. To the other search processes in parallel.
The challenges of selling a business
However, Wanner explains that every company handover is always exciting. It includes its own laws due to the industry, the region or also the people and other special features. Selling a company is not like selling a car or a property. Every company has its own special features that have to be taken into account in order to be successful in the sale.
If you ask Wanner what the biggest challenge can be in a sale, he names several key points:
The owner should sell in good economic times.
That is, when turnover and earnings are very good. Also the team is motivated and the management team is complete.
Unfortunately, some owners would no longer want or be able to do this. Therefore, they drag themselves and the company along for many years until there is a high investment backlog and/or also very poor figures. Then the sale becomes very difficult and the possible sale price is at a very low level.
Making yourself pretty for the wedding is not good.
Some think that they can make their company look more attractive in the short term only by means of a few months or tricks and thus achieve a higher sales price. This is naïve, since every serious buyer today actually carries out an extensive due diligence or detailed examination and thus identifies these “dazzlers”. Here, too, the talks fail very quickly.
Some companies are sleeping through the future.
Unfortunately, some prospective sellers are no longer up to date with the latest technology or are generally in a dying industry. This usually makes a sale impossible and Wanner usually refuses to sell such companies.
Some companies are not prepared for the company handover.
For example, there are companies that are very strongly oriented towards the owner. Also they have hardly any structures in place. In this respect, the owner is the “motor” that keeps the organisation alive. And then some owners are surprised when a potential buyer demands 3 to 5 years of cooperation in order to successfully take over the company.
Also, the takeover of the sales mandate sometimes fails because of the seller’s exaggerated price expectations.
Wanner’s conclusion
Mr. Wanner could probably talk out of the closet for many hours here, but he wanted to make one important point at the end. As a supporter of small and medium-sized businesses, Mr. Wanner is very personally annoyed by the fact that many companies close down because they simply cannot find their way to a professional business broker. They just advertise the company on a portal or tell their friends and tax advisor and in the end it doesn’t work out. And so customers, employees and suppliers are confronted with the closure of the business. Valuable and excellent companies disappear from the market just like that. At the same time, some founders would be glad not to have to start from scratch. Wanner has a database of prospective founders!
In this respect, Wanner advises entrusting oneself to a professional and letting him advise on the transfer of a company. And here the entrepreneur should take a close look at the service provider’s CV as well as reference projects.
