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.

Table of contents

This speaks in favour of succession advice: 8 advantages

Professional support for business succession

What makes a good succession advisor?

Where can you find the right consultant for your company?

Procedure of the succession counselling

The most important step for successful succession

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 in your search for a buyer, we will become active on your behalf. By approaching potential buyers 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.

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 questions and tasks relevant to business 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 preserve the client's anonymity in the search for a buyer in advance and act in the seller's interests 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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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 and Poland built up.

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 been transferred. the last step of the business succession is to carry out the succession. In this handover phase of the succession, you have to master further challenges, such as informing employees and customers or familiarising the new management - also with the corporate culture.

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.