Succes­si­on advice near you

When the time comes to Handing over your life’s work, you have to overco­me various challenges: What is a reali­stic compa­ny value? How do you commu­ni­ca­te with employees? Where do you find a suita­ble buyer?

With these questi­ons (and many more) Profes­sio­nal succes­si­on advice helps you. Your contact person supports you with his or her experi­ence and accom­pa­nies you through all steps of the important process.

Where can you find the right consul­tant for your company?

It is important to us that we are perso­nal­ly available for our clients ? entre­pre­neurs and the family behind them ? perso­nal­ly. For this reason, in recent years we have estab­lished a Dense network of locati­ons throug­hout Germa­ny, Austria, Switz­er­land, Poland and Portu­gal built up.

This speaks in favour of succes­si­on advice: 8 advantages

Here are eight benefits of hiring a KERN succes­si­on advisor for your company:

1. Guaran­teed success
   Since we are convin­ced of our services, we offer you a Guaran­teed success which secures itself in the event that the sale of the compa­ny is not successful. If, contra­ry to expec­ta­ti­ons, we do not manage to sell your compa­ny in 24 months, you will recei­ve back the advan­ce costs paid. Unique!
2. Develo­p­ment of a succes­si­on plan
   KERN succes­si­on advisors will help you develop a compre­hen­si­ve succes­si­on plan for your business that takes into account the current manage­ment team, poten­ti­al succes­sors and the timeline for succes­si­on. The consul­tant will also guide and advise you on the imple­men­ta­ti­on of the plan and its execution.
3. Objec­ti­vi­ty
   With a Compa­ny succes­si­on it can be easy to get too wrapped up in the details and lose sight of the big pictu­re. Specia­lists can take an objec­ti­ve look at the situa­ti­on and thus help you focus on the important decis­i­ons surroun­ding your life’s work.
4. Conflict resolu­ti­on
   The advisor will provi­de conflict resolu­ti­on services as needed to ensure a smooth leader­ship transi­ti­on and avoid disrup­ti­ons within the compa­ny. This supports the success of the succes­si­on and can also shorten the durati­on of the transi­ti­on phase.
5. Impro­ved decis­i­on making
   By provi­ding insights into the current state of the business and its future poten­ti­al, advisors can help you make better decis­i­ons that will lead to a successful transi­ti­on of the business to the next genera­ti­on or an exter­nal buyer.
6. Anony­mi­ty in the search for buyers
   If, for various under­stan­da­ble reasons, you wish to remain anony­mous when searching for a buyer, we will take action on your behalf. By approa­ching poten­ti­al buyers direct­ly, confi­den­ti­al­ly and discreet­ly, a suita­ble candi­da­te can often be found much more quickly.
7. Access to resour­ces
   Business advisors can give you access to oppor­tu­ni­ties that may not other­wi­se be available to you, such as business exchan­ges, purcha­se price finan­cing for the buyer and tax relief for you as the seller. They provi­de expert knowledge on how these resour­ces can best be used for the benefit of the business.
8. Cost savings
   By outsour­cing to a succes­si­on consul­tancy, you as an entre­pre­neur can often save considera­ble sums of money. Among other things, this is becau­se a consul­ting firm can offer more cost-effec­ti­ve soluti­ons than an inter­nal team that has to familia­ri­se itself with the new issues. And the bottom line is that the sales proceeds will be higher in most cases.

Proce­du­re of the succes­si­on counselling

It is important to plan business succes­si­on with foresight, as it is a complex process that can take a lot of time and effort.

• Step 1: Deter­mi­ne a strategy
  The first step in succes­si­on counsel­ling is to work out the optimal strategy. This often depends on the size and profi­ta­bi­li­ty of the business. Are there inter­nal succes­sors for the family business or could manage­ment takeover be an option? The important topic of compa­ny value or the sales strategy must also be clarified.
• Step 2: Identi­fy succes­sors
  Once it has been deter­mi­ned which strategy will be imple­men­ted to secure succes­si­on, the next step is to find succes­sors. This can be done in a number of ways. Will the family business remain within the circle of family and friends or will a previous­ly unknown person be sought? Can a compa­ny exchan­ge be helpful or will other paths be taken? KERN has well over 300,000 maintai­ned and checked inves­tor profiles in its databa­ses alone.
• Step 3: Conduct negotia­ti­ons with the succes­sor
  Depen­ding on the strategy and possi­ble succes­sors, negotia­ti­ons on the terms of succes­si­on must be conduc­ted. This is usual­ly accom­pa­nied by forma­li­ties, such as a Confi­den­tia­li­ty agree­ment (NDA) or the due diligence process, connec­ted.
• Step 4: Deter­mi­ne the trans­fer of owner­ship and manage­ment
  The next step in the business succes­si­on process is to find an arran­ge­ment for the trans­fer of owner­ship and manage­ment. To do this, you need to discuss the details of the succes­si­on, e.g. associa­ted taxes, securi­ties, respon­si­bi­li­ties and then ensure that the Succes­si­on proper­ly documen­ted and appro­ved will.
• Step 5: Comple­te the follow-up
  As soon as the owner­ship has been trans­fer­red and the assets and liabi­li­ties have beenThe final step in the compa­ny succes­si­on process is to carry out the succes­si­on. In this hando­ver phase of the succes­si­on, you must overco­me further challenges, such as informing employees and custo­mers or familia­ri­sing the new manage­ment with the compa­ny culture.

Profes­sio­nal support for business succession

The Compa­ny sale is an important part of any company’s long-term strategy. The Develo­ping a succes­si­on plan is at the same time a highly complex processwhich requi­res careful thought, planning and execution.

This is where profes­sio­nal advice comes into play. A succes­si­on advisor is an experi­en­ced profes­sio­nal who knows about the Know-how, the instru­ments and the resour­ces has to help you develop a succes­si­on plan that is speci­fi­cal­ly tailo­red to your business. He will develop a strategy for you - Start­ing with the valua­ti­on, the presen­ta­ti­on in the compa­ny exposé, negotia­ti­ons and the appro­pria­te strategy for the purcha­se price up to the post-merger integra­ti­on (the hando­ver process to the succes­sor)..

The KERN consul­ting group offers sound soluti­ons for all succes­si­on issues and tasks relevant to compa­ny succes­si­on. Every KERN partner has diver­se profes­sio­nal and life experi­en­ces on the topic and is thus ideal­ly equip­ped to provi­de thoughtful and profes­sio­nal advice.

Our attitu­de is Charac­te­ri­sed by respect and appre­cia­ti­on for the important values of our clients - the majori­ty of which are family businesses and SMEs - to be trans­fer­red into the future in a mindful and appre­cia­ti­ve manner.

This respon­si­ve­ness to the entrepreneur’s indivi­du­al situa­ti­on benefits commu­ni­ca­ti­on and trust.

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What makes a good succes­si­on advisor?

The right advisor is essen­ti­al for the success of any business succes­si­on. However, having managed a compa­ny sale once is by no means enough. Every succes­si­on process has indivi­du­al requi­re­ments, which we at KERN with a good 20 years of experi­ence and well over 1,000 succes­si­on manda­tes can master. During this time, we have learned that the right Quali­fi­ca­ti­ons, experi­ence and exper­ti­se are crucial:

Experi­ence and expertise

Our consul­tants are highly quali­fied experts who specia­li­se in the areas of Succes­si­on planning, change manage­ment, purcha­se and sale proces­ses, intra-family genera­ti­on change as well as, finan­cial and estate planning have specia­li­sed. They under­stand the comple­xi­ty of the high design demand and know how to manage this diver­si­ty for the benefit of the company.

Our succes­si­on advisors are also experi­en­ced in dealing with the various challenges and problems associa­ted with succes­si­on. They are able to, recog­ni­se possi­ble pitfalls and guide the compa­ny through the transi­ti­on process. They under­stand the importance of commu­ni­ca­ti­on and coope­ra­ti­on between the diffe­rent stakeholders.

Ultim­ate­ly, business succes­si­on should be planned with suffi­ci­ent time to ensure that the right person is chosen for the challenge.

The inter­per­so­nal level

Trust is an essen­ti­al element in any successful business relati­onship, but it is especi­al­ly important when it comes to succes­si­on planning. After all sensi­ti­ve business data is disclo­sed and also ‘unplea­sant’ incidents. IncidentsThe problems, such as debts, payment problems, suppli­er diffi­cul­ties or decli­ning sales, must be discus­sed. Often family relati­onships also play a role.

Trust also has to do with commu­ni­ca­ti­on. The counsell­or should be open and honest with his client and give him both the Positi­ve as well as negati­ve aspects of the indivi­du­al succes­si­on process commu­ni­ca­te. He must protect the anony­mi­ty of the client in advan­ce when looking for a buyer and act in the interests of the seller when negotia­ting the purcha­se price. The Trust of our clients is an important asset for us at KERN, which we know how to value and preserve.

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The most important step for successful succession

In order for your compa­ny to be successful­ly handed over to a suita­ble succes­sor, it is neces­sa­ry to The right course is set from the begin­ning. Experi­ence has shown that it makes sense to seek profes­sio­nal advice at an early stage.

We at KERN Nachfol­ge­be­ra­tung would be happy to provi­de you with our services.