succession plan

Succession planning has been a constantly relevant challenge for the Swiss economy for years and primarily affects SMEs. Read our article to find out what you need to consider in succession planning and when selling your company.

Succession Planning

Most medium-sized companies plan their succession one to a maximum of five years in advance. An appropriate lead time is between seven and ten years. On the one hand, the tax-optimized conversion from business to private assets takes a lot of time. On the other hand, family matters or the procedure in the event of the premature death of the company owner often need to be clarified. According to the BISNODE D&B succession study, almost one-third of all Swiss SMEs are not transferred due to lack of or too late succession planning. As a result, there is a loss of know-how, jobs, and not least tax revenue.

Sale of the Company

Various potential buyers come into consideration for the handover: family members, employees in the context of a management buy-out, strategic investors (e.g., suppliers, competitors), or financial investors (e.g., private equity). In any case, the company should be polished to perfection before the sale. This involves reducing assets to operational capital and increasing operational profitability by renovating or separating unprofitable areas. Moreover, for a successful sales negotiation, you need to know how much your company is worth. For this purpose, you have several valuation methods at your disposal, with which you can determine the lower and upper limits of the possible sales price. The exact transaction sum, however, ultimately depends on the negotiation skills of the parties involved.