
The choice of the potential business buyer’s profile will determine the process of transferring the business.
It is evident that transferring your company to a family member will simplify the process compared to transferring it to an international group.
Before preparing the transfer of your company, it is essential to identify the various types of business buyers:
Family member transfer
– Children
– A family member
If a family member takes over your SME, it is crucial to consider how to give power to this person without harming the interests of the other heirs.
In this case, splitting the company, separating the real estate, and forming a family holding are tools that can solve this problem.
Transferee staff member(s)
– Group of executives from the company (LMBO: Leverage Management buyout)
– Group of executives with a financial investor
– Group of executives with an external manager (LMBI)
In this case, it is essential to ensure that the interested parties are appropriately advised, and if necessary, to assist them in their approach with a progressive transfer of the company, an earn-out clause, or even a seller’s credit.
External company buyer
– Competitors, customers, suppliers
– Industrial investor
– Financial investors (LBO: – Leverage buyout),…
– Manager or group of managers
If the potential buyer of the company is a competitor, the issue of confidentiality of the information transmitted is crucial. All competitors will be interested in receiving precise information on the company to be sold without any actual acquisition project. However, this type of potential buyer should not be neglected as, in most cases, competitors have a strategic interest in buying with knowledge of the business that facilitates negotiations. The principle of the data room can be used for the transmission of information.
The stock exchange
This option is available only to large SMEs with significant growth and regular and recurrent positive results over the last 5/7 years.






