Daniel Heuer - M&A Beratung für Unternehmens­nachfolge & Unter­nehmens­verkauf in Zürich und der Schweiz

We were very satis­fied with Mr Claus from the KERN compa­ny. In parti­cu­lar, his commit­ment helped us a lot in organi­s­ing a successful succes­si­on for a craft business. We are happy to recom­mend Mr Claus to others.

We had our growth strategy accom­pa­nied by the specia­lists from KERN. With a precise target analy­sis and detail­ed market research, we succee­ded in finding exact­ly the right compa­ny for our parti­cu­lar niche. The effort invol­ved in such a step should not be undere­sti­ma­ted. With KERN, we have found profes­sio­nal support. At the same time, the succes­si­on problem of the compa­ny to be taken over could be solved substan­ti­al­ly and in the long term.

KERN’s coaching has clear­ly opened up a path for my son, with which we can now dedica­te oursel­ves together to the project of genera­tio­nal change, in the sense of conti­nuing the family business. We as parents simply cannot convey some things in the same way and help to reali­se how a profes­sio­nal coach can.

I am happy to have chosen KERN as my advisor in my succes­si­on process. I also checked out other offers before­hand and the relia­bi­li­ty and securi­ty of KERN was the decisi­ve criter­ion for me. I felt optimal­ly support­ed by my KERN consul­tant at all times. Even the parti­cu­lar­ly diffi­cult tasks, such as finan­cing questi­ons and the drafting of contracts, were solved in the best possi­ble way. From me again and again!

Without Karl Rehfuß and his often selfless and always optimi­stic commit­ment, I would proba­b­ly have despai­red of histo­ry long ago. All of us here are really glad to have had exact­ly this CORE expert at our side in these past diffi­cult times.

Change also means dealing with the cultu­re, the goals, the respon­si­bi­li­ties and the “rules of the game” in a compa­ny. With KERN, we have embark­ed on the exciting path of creating our own indivi­du­al corpo­ra­te philo­so­phy and have been surpri­sed at the great energies that have been released in all of us. For the benefit of our custo­mers, employees and the entire compa­ny. Thanks to KERN for the targe­ted and profes­sio­nal modera­ti­on and development.

We would defini­te­ly recom­mend Kern-Unternehmens­nachfolge to others, as we were very enthu­si­a­stic about the perso­nal commit­ment of our consul­tant Mr Grepp­mair. It was a very pleasant, trusting coope­ra­ti­on and we would not have managed to carry out such a successful compa­ny sale without his help. From the first day until the notary appoint­ment we felt well advised and support­ed. Many thanks again to the Kern compa­ny and especi­al­ly to Mr Greppmair.

Rarely has the feedback from the audience been so unani­mously positi­ve! You convey­ed the topic authen­ti­cal­ly and with heart in every respect. I hope that family businesses will take advan­ta­ge of your recommendations.

My pre-selec­tion decis­i­on to 100% proved to be the right one. KERN did a really good job from the prepa­ra­ti­on of my compa­ny in an exposé, to the search for buyers, to the facili­ta­ti­on of negotia­ti­ons and the comple­te imple­men­ta­ti­on of my succes­si­on. In parti­cu­lar, the serious­ness and profes­sio­na­lism gave me a secure feeling at all times. Our goal was successful­ly achie­ved in a good 8 months. I am happy to recom­mend KERN to others.

KERN profes­sio­nal­ly accom­pa­nied and imple­men­ted my compa­ny sale from start to finish. Finding a buyer was surpri­sin­gly quick and the subse­quent succes­si­on process was compe­tent­ly accom­pa­nied and modera­ted at all times.

Mr Grepp­mair from KERN assis­ted me with the sale of my caret­a­ker service in Munich in an always pleasant and very compe­tent manner. In just nine months, he managed to sell my compa­ny at a satis­fac­to­ry price despi­te falling sales and the Corona crisis. In doing so, he made a decisi­ve contri­bu­ti­on to a new life plan that I had longed for for a long time. Many thanks for that!

Thank you for your innova­ti­ve contri­bu­ti­on to our nation­wi­de DIHK Action Day on Business Succes­si­on. Focusing on the “soft” issues is in line with our experi­ence of what makes a succes­si­on successful. The four phases provi­de struc­tu­re and orien­ta­ti­on in a very complex process. We’ll be happy to do it again on another occasion.

We engaged KERN as part of a seminar to show our associa­ti­on members the various options for succes­si­on planning. KERN illus­tra­ted the complex topic very well and presen­ted it in an under­stan­da­ble way. The feedback from the seminar parti­ci­pan­ts was consis­t­ent­ly positi­ve. We as organisers also had only positi­ve experiences.

In the context of my compa­ny succes­si­on, the merger with a compe­ti­tor compa­ny was the ideal soluti­on. The KERN team, and especi­al­ly Mr. Koerber, accom­pa­nied us sensi­tively as a modera­tor and process facili­ta­tor and combi­ned the interests of both negotia­ting partners well. Without the view from outside and the negotia­ting experi­ence, we would proba­b­ly never have reached our goal so quick­ly and safely!

MeinST­ABWECH­SEL is an exciting method for a sustainable change of leader­ship in family businesses. With amazing ease, you find your own values and needs.
The goal, path and time frame appeared to me at the end of the journey as a 3D vision for my perso­nal baton change. So I worked out my “to do list” myself in the best atmosphe­re and guidance from KERN.

Especi­al­ly in the diffi­cult phases, my advisor closed the gaps and paved the way for a further negotia­ti­on.
Every­thing was profes­sio­nal and relia­ble, meetings outside normal business hours were possi­ble at any time.
Profes­sio­nal­ly, I feel compre­hen­si­ve and in good hands, the successful conclu­si­on is an expres­si­on of KERN competence!

The advice and support provi­ded by Mr Feier from KERN was very important for us. He brought clari­ty and struc­tu­re to our proces­ses and with his focus on the essen­ti­als we were quick and uncom­pli­ca­ted in imple­men­ting the most important measu­res. His many years of experi­ence in dealing with projects was immedia­te­ly noticeable. We were very convin­ced by the way he used examp­les and compa­ri­sons to show us our own proce­du­res, which enabled him to initia­te important reflections.

Thank you very much for your presen­ta­ti­on at our confe­rence. The unani­mously positi­ve feedback from the 150 members of the audience confirm­ed how important your topics are and that you were very convin­cing as a speak­er from KERN.

The coope­ra­ti­on over the past months has been charac­te­ri­sed by profes­sio­na­lism and trust; I, too, have always felt well repre­sen­ted by you, even though I have been not was your client. All the greater the compli­ment! MANY THANKS!

From start to finish, from the search for a suita­ble compa­ny to the successful
Abschluss, war die Zusam­men­ar­beit mit Frau Kalon­da zuver­läs­sig und profes­sio­nell.
During the ups and downs of a compa­ny acqui­si­ti­on, the invol­vement of a KERN consul­tant as a
Sparrings­part­ner und lösungs­ori­en­tier­ter Wegbe­rei­ter in den vielen Verhand­lungs­si­tua­tio­nen sehr
helpful.
Ich fühlte mich fachlich sehr gut aufge­ho­ben und auch persön­lich in jeder Situa­ti­on ausge­zeich­net
super­vi­sed.
Ein großes Dankes­schön für die profes­sio­nel­le und mit einem Abschluss gekrön­te Zusammenarbeit.

I have very much enjoy­ed working with KERN and, as a repre­sen­ta­ti­ve of the buyer side, am always pleased when sellers - especi­al­ly family businesses - recei­ve holistic advice and are speci­fi­cal­ly prepared for a sale.

We have had very good experi­ence with Norbert Lang in parti­cu­lar. He is an extre­me­ly serious and compe­tent contact person when accom­pany­ing succes­si­on proces­ses. As a lectu­rer at lectu­re events, he impres­ses with his very lively and authen­tic style.

Den Umfang und die Tiefe der erfor­der­li­chen Aufar­bei­tung der Unter­neh­mens­da­ten für einen Verkauf habe ich unter­schätzt. Ohne die hoch kompe­ten­te und jeder­zeit unter­stüt­zen­de und motivie­ren­de Beglei­tung meines Beraters, Herrn Kehrein, wäre die erfolg­rei­che Veräu­ße­rung meiner Firma so nicht möglich gewesen. Zudem habe ich sehr von der “Außen­sicht” auf das Unter­neh­men profi­tiert sowie selbst­ver­ständ­lich von dem Know-How, welche Quellen mit Inter­es­sen­ten es geben kann. Die Betreu­ung war derart umfäng­lich und zu jeder Zeit präsent, dass ich nicht nur den notwen­di­gen Exper­ten an meiner Seite hatte, sondern einen echten Partner, der meine Inter­es­sen zu seinen gemacht hat. Das ist neben aller Profes­sio­na­li­tät, die man erwar­ten sollte, sicher mehr als die meisten Berater in diesem Segment leisten.

Mr. Ingo Claus had accom­pa­nied us in the diffi­cult task of finding a suita­ble succes­sor for our expert office. We owe the unexpec­ted­ly successful sale of our compa­ny to him. Mr Claus has a fine sense for tricky negotia­ting situa­tions, skilful­ly and calmly he finds the right ideas for soluti­ons that are accep­ta­ble to both contrac­ting parties. Mr Claus accom­pa­nied the project with a wealth of experi­ence, knowledge of human nature and negotia­ting skills. We are happy to recom­mend him.

Thank you very much for your lively contri­bu­ti­on to the BVMW event Compa­ny Succes­si­on in Practi­ce. Mr Grepp­mair, you succee­ded in a special way in entering the world of the audience - the entre­pre­neurs affec­ted by the succes­si­on - and picking them up where they are parti­cu­lar­ly emotio­nal­ly. The mixtu­re of lectu­re and role play was so far unique in its kind and there­fo­re parti­cu­lar­ly valuable.

In my search for a compe­tent advisor who would profes­sio­nal­ly support me in the sale of my compa­ny, Norbert Lang was recom­men­ded to me. And indeed, I was not promi­sed too much, from the valua­ti­on through all stages of the process of prepa­ring the sale to the signing of the contracts, Mr Lang was always a very knowled­geable compa­n­ion and advisor. I can recom­mend him with a clear conscience!

As an entre­pre­neur with over 40 years of profes­sio­nal experi­ence, you certain­ly know a lot about a lot of things, but in no way about “succes­si­on”. :-). I can only highly recom­mend Nils Koerber and Ingo Claus. Emotio­nal­ly, human­ly and profes­sio­nal­ly, succes­si­on is one of the most diffi­cult tasks that an entre­pre­neur has to solve. The help, advice & support is worth its weight in gold and has really helped us in all aspects of this very complex topic. And it all worked out.

When unexpec­ted compli­ca­ti­ons arose during negotia­ti­ons for the takeover of a practi­ce, I turned to KERN and Mr. Ingo Claus. From the very begin­ning, I felt profes­sio­nal­ly accom­pa­nied by Mr Claus and that I and my interests were optimal­ly repre­sen­ted. Thanks to Mr. Claus’ negotia­ting skills, his objec­ti­ve, clear, goal-orien­ted commu­ni­ca­ti­on, his efforts to find a good soluti­on for both parties to the contract and his outstan­ding abili­ty to calmly media­te and maintain an overview, a soluti­on satis­fac­to­ry to both sides (!) was quick­ly found for the takeover of the practi­ce. Many thanks!

I would like to thank you very much for your support during the sale of the compa­ny. The speed was impres­si­ve, the form always appro­pria­te to the situa­ti­on, the behaviour honest and unpre­ten­tious - it could­n’t have been better! Thanks to your support, we were able to conclude this project satis­fac­to­ri­ly for all of us.

The KERN team was recom­men­ded to me as part of our compa­ny sale and, in retro­s­pect, we are very glad to have recei­ved this tip. The negotia­ti­on process for the sale was complex, lengthy and someti­mes threa­ten­ed by emotio­nal misun­derstan­dings in the outco­me. However, thanks to the great experi­ence and skill of our KERN consul­tant, we achie­ved our goal and can defini­te­ly recom­mend working with KERN.

Mr. Rehfuß from the KERN locati­on in Stutt­gart provi­ded us with compe­tent and profes­sio­nal support at all times during the compa­ny takeover. Even diffi­cult phases were handled successful­ly and prompt­ly. The advice & support was important and helped us in all aspects of this very complex topic.

In 2020, we took over Wink GmbH in the Augsburg area as an inves­tor and are very happy with it. The transac­tion was accom­pa­nied by Mr Grepp­mair from KERN, which we found to be very profes­sio­nal and also led quick­ly to the goal. Here we can offer unreser­ved and unqua­li­fied praise. We would be happy to work with KERN again and again!

By its very nature, there are not multi­ple oppor­tu­ni­ties when selling a business. That is why choosing the right manage­ment consul­tant is so important. After a lengthy selec­tion process, we decided on KERN and Holger Haber­mann. With great perso­nal commit­ment, Mr. Haber­mann has successful­ly maste­red all tasks, both in terms of content and manage­ment. I would parti­cu­lar­ly like to empha­sise the wide-ranging exper­ti­se, the metho­di­cal approach, the objec­ti­ve, calm manner and the straight­for­ward­ness in the discussion.

If KERN accom­pa­nies an inves­tor and develo­ps a business plan with the MBI/MBO, the chances increase signi­fi­cant­ly that Commerz­bank will be available with financing.

Beson­ders gut an KERN und Herrn Ingo Claus hat mir der sehr profes­sio­nel­le und vertrau­ens­vol­le Umgang mit mir als Unter­neh­mens­ver­käu­fer und den Inter­es­sen­ten gefal­len. Herr Claus handel­te stets lösungs­ori­en­tiert und stand in einem ständi­gen Dialog zwischen mir als Verkäu­fer und den poten­zi­el­len Erwer­bern. Auch wenn es am Ende zwar nicht zu einem Verkaufs­ab­schluss gekom­men ist, was äußeren Umstän­den geschul­det war, so bin ich mit der geleis­te­ten Arbeit von Kern, Herrn Claus sehr zufrie­den gewesen und würde Kern und ihn jeder­zeit und unein­ge­schränkt weiterempfehlen.

Ich kenne Herrn Feier schon seit vielen Jahren. Die lange und teilwei­se inten­si­ve Zusam­men­ar­beit haben ein starkes Vertrau­ens­ver­hält­nis aufge­baut. Ich schät­ze seine Arbeits­wei­se sehr!

Die Öster­rei­chi­sche Post ist der landes­weit führen­de Logis­tik- und Postdienst­leis­ter und ist zudem durch Tochter­un­ter­neh­men in elf europäi­schen Ländern vor allem in den Berei­chen Paket & Logis­tik tätig.

“Thank you Mr Lang for the relia­ble and pleasant coope­ra­ti­on.
I have the pleasant feeling that I have not been decei­ved and can and
will recom­mend you at any time. L. K.”

Our clients are medium-sized compa­nies and the challenges in terms of genera­tio­nal change, compa­ny sale or emergen­cy provi­si­on are “peren­ni­al issues” for us. We have been working with Mr Koerber and KERN for years and appre­cia­te his practi­cal knowledge and the orien­ted training and coaching. Parents and child­ren from family businesses benefit from this in a very tangi­ble way.

Our inter­nal family succes­si­on and the coaching of my sons was handled very sensi­tively and with commit­ment by Mr Koerber. Many insights and activi­ties would have been left out in our family without the KERN support of our genera­tio­nal change. It helps enorm­ously to get an outside perspec­ti­ve and to have a neutral perso­na­li­ty available as a contact person for all members of the family.

My great wish to sell my physio­the­ra­py practi­ce remain­ed unsuc­cessful despi­te all my efforts and also several job inter­views. With his great, empathe­tic manner, Mr Grepp­mair quick­ly helped me to recog­ni­se the real reason. I reali­sed that the cause was me and that I was uncon­scious­ly not yet ready to let go. This changed quick­ly with his help and a short time later I was able to hand over the practi­ce to a compe­tent succes­sor. Many thanks for that!

Beson­ders gut an KERN und Herrn Ingo Claus hat mir der sehr profes­sio­nel­le und vertrau­ens­vol­le Umgang mit mir als Unter­neh­mens­ver­käu­fer und den Inter­es­sen­ten gefal­len. Herr Claus handel­te stets lösungs­ori­en­tiert und stand in einem ständi­gen Dialog zwischen mir als Verkäu­fer und den poten­zi­el­len Erwer­bern. Auch wenn es am Ende zwar nicht zu einem Verkaufs­ab­schluss gekom­men ist, was äußeren Umstän­den geschul­det war, so bin ich mit der geleis­te­ten Arbeit von KERN, Herrn Claus, sehr zufrie­den gewesen und würde KERN und ihn jeder­zeit und unein­ge­schränkt weiterempfehlen.

I got to know Ingo Claus from KERN as a speak­er at a highly recom­men­ded workshop on the topic of selling a compa­ny. Using many examp­les, he descri­bed the complex process of finding a succes­sor in a very practi­cal way.

I got to know Mr Claus in 2010 as part of an expan­si­on project for an owner-managed compa­ny. During this time, I came to appre­cia­te his goal-orien­ted approach and his abili­ty to get to grips with the speci­fics of family businesses. I am happy to recom­mend him.