In particular small family-owned businesses have problems in finding suitable company successors. This is the result of a survey conducted by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) and Industry among 1100 companies. As a consequence almost 40.000 companies and 140.000 jobs are threatened each year, says the DIHK, the main reason being that there is no offspring who would or could take over. In such cases selling the company is the only solution, but even then problems arise given that there is a lack of prospective buyers.
Ludwig Georg Braun, DIHK chairman, urgently recommends his entrepreneur colleagues: »Do not wait too long with your search for a successor. Think in good time about how your business is going to continue. Special successor market places and German Chambers of Commerce and Industry support you in the search.«
At the same time the DIHK chairman calls upon politicians to get under way an inheritance tax reform as soon as possible in order to safe companies and jobs. Says Mr. Braun: »This is all the more important given that 80 percent of all German companies want to hand their businesses over to someone from their own families, a fact which was confirmed by our survey too.«
All the data are contained in part 3 of the company DIHL barometer on Basel II which is available for download in PDF format. 