Company directors of small and medium-sized enterprises often wish that their life's work would be continued by their own children. But this dream cannot always be realized, so a successor is urgently sought to take over the company. Or a merger with another company is considered. In other cases, the business is to be closed, so that further questions arise: What happens to the equipment and the real estate? When preparing for the sale of the company, the most important thing is to plan for the long term. How can the building be put to good use? How can the existing machines and production facilities be put to a new use?

This topic is currently gaining in explosiveness, as up to 190,000 companies will be handed over to new hands in the next three years. With the help of an experienced expert, entrepreneurs can calmly plan everything for the handover. Other scenarios are also conceivable: Company liquidations, relocation or merger.

 

Special challenges for company successions in industry

In order to avoid rash decisions, the owner must approach the planning of the company succession at an early stage. Only in this way can they ensure that the appropriate arrangement is chosen: an internal or external successor, a merger or other, depending on the situation.

The most important aspects of the sale are determining the value of the company and negotiating the selling price, whereby legal and tax aspects must be taken into account. When a suitable successor is found, training and a transition period must be planned. To ensure that both customers and suppliers are aware, care must be taken to communicate the change to the outside world at the right time. Above all, employees should be informed as early as possible and involved in the transformation process. As soon as the financing of the company succession has been clarified, possible effects on the corporate culture must be considered in this context.

 

Plan the strategy with Greenfield Industrial

In order to reconcile all these key points, it is often best to plan everything from a single source together with an expert. For the Hamburg-based company Greenfield Industrial, which specializes in corporate succession, this process is part of day-to-day business. As part of an owner-managed group of companies that is run from the top as a family business, Greenfield Industrial buys companies up for succession and offers several advantages in the process.

"We place a lot of emphasis on interpersonal relationships," says CEO Ron Alexander. "We don't feel like a corporation, despite our size." The focus is on strategic continuation of a company up for succession. The company in question is seamlessly integrated into the group so that jobs can be preserved. At the same time, the experts ensure process optimization to safeguard profitability. Even if the actual succession has already been arranged, the strategic takeover by Greenfield can make sense. The successor benefits from the comprehensive know-how of the group of companies and enjoys full support in planning and shaping the company's future.

This is only possible thanks to the financial strength of Greenfield Industrial GmbH, because only in this way can complete takeovers of real estate and mobile assets be guaranteed without having to involve other financiers. The Hamburg-based company is also available as a contact in cases of insolvency or liquidity bridging.

The industrial trading company has long been involved in the purchase and sale of industrial assets and commercial real estate. This also involves site development as well as project-specific financing solutions. All necessary steps for the operational handling of complex tasks in the valuation of industrial assets, the dismantling or clearing of production sites of any size are included. This service is of particular interest to industrial companies, insolvency administrators, M&A professionals as well as banks and leasing companies.

 

The right solution for every problem

Regardless of whether it is a matter of valuing or marketing corporate assets of any industry and size, the right solution can be found for every problem. Further development of industrial real estate, securing jobs, marketing of machinery stocks - the tried and tested team of Greenfield Industrial is prepared for all cases.

In any case, we proceed with tact and sensitivity. Reckless hair-splitting plans are not used anywhere. "Above all, it's always about the people who work together in a company," says Ron Alexander. "The employees are the most important thing, no matter what plans are developed for the continuation or dissolution of a company."