Is the successor missing, or is the search?

Ask business owners what stands in the way of succession and you almost always hear the same answer: nobody wants to take over. Finding the right person is the biggest hurdle for 69 percent of all German SME owners. That is what the KfW succession monitoring report, published in January 2026, says.

Ask businesses that actually plan to close about their reasons, however, and the picture changes. Only 21 percent say they searched and found nobody. For 11 percent, the search was too much effort. Most plan to close for reasons that, at least initially, have nothing to do with a missing successor.

We read two studies: the KfW Succession Monitoring SME report 2025 and the business magazine Regio Manager’s study “Business succession 2026”, which surveyed 836 entrepreneurs and decision-makers in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Read separately, both confirm familiar findings. Side by side, they reveal a gap between what people say about succession and what happens next.

What people say and what happens

Why businesses really close

Age comes first. 52 percent of businesses planning to close say the owner is retiring. Family comes next, at 47 percent. Third is bureaucracy, including tax and legal matters, at 42 percent. The previous year it was 30 percent; no other reason has risen as sharply.

Retiring at 67 explains why someone stops working. It does not explain why the business stops too. And if the children do not want to take over, one option disappears. You still do not know whether someone from outside would take it on.

KfW states this quite openly in its study. Many owners deliberately choose to close, even though the business model and achievable price would probably justify a search. That fits with the finding that only 17 percent of those planning to close say the financial position prevents a sale. We have brought together all the monitoring figures in this overview.

Owners who want to hand over usually make progress

The same KfW study also shows that succession works when someone genuinely wants it. Most owners who intend to hand over by the end of 2026 are already well advanced. At the time of the survey, 30 percent had finished negotiations and another 34 percent were in talks. Only 4 percent had not started at all.

The succession gap therefore opens up in two places. Everyone knows the first: too few people take over. In 2024, only just over one in six founders took over an existing business or acquired a stake in one; the share has more than halved since 2002. The second is quieter. Some businesses never reach the market because their owners have already decided that nobody would want to take over anyway.

Where both sides already agree

The NRW survey asked not just owners, but also people who want to take over or have already done so. Just over half of the 836 respondents want to hand over, and around a fifth want to take over. On two questions, the two sides are closer than you might expect.

The first is price. For 59.8 percent of respondents, the fit matters more than the purchase price: the right person for the business, or the right business for the person. Only 32 percent put the highest price first.

The second is payment. 68.9 percent can envisage paying or receiving the purchase price through a mixed arrangement. Part is paid on signing, with the rest in instalments or linked to subsequent performance. Most takeovers are financed through a combination anyway, with bank lending, development loans and vendor loans. How much equity you need is explained in this article.

And what would motivate respondents to get started now? The most frequently cited answers were a guide to the process (46.8 percent), introductions to suitable successors (34 percent) and examples of successful handovers (31.8 percent).

What this means for owners

Stepping away and closing down are two decisions. You make the first for yourself. The second affects your team, your customers and often the place where your business is based. Before making that second decision, it is worth making a serious search.

• Start early. The advisers in the NRW study allow two to three years for a succession. The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) recommends starting at least three years beforehand.
• Ask the family directly. A tax adviser in the study describes owners who firmly expect their son to take over, while the son knows nothing about it. An honest conversation can save years.
• Do not tackle bureaucracy alone. Tax and legal matters can be resolved if you get help in good time. Our article on tax in business succession explains what matters.
• Show your business. People who want to take over rarely search only through listings. A video about the business, team and owner reaches further than a sales brochure.

The succession check gives you an initial assessment of where you stand in a few minutes.

What this means for successors

If some businesses have never looked for a successor, they will not appear on a succession marketplace either. Waiting for listings gives you only a small part of the picture.

Then there is the figure above. For 59.8 percent, the fit matters more than the price. A high offer alone therefore gets you only so far. Owners want to know who you are, what you plan to do with the business and how you will treat the team.

Competition is also relatively limited, because only just over one in six founders takes over a business. We have already explored why so few founders consider a takeover. To see whether it could suit you, try the successor test.

Where Nachfounder comes in

We approach owners before the decision to close has been made. A business profile puts a face to a company, reaching people who would never look at a succession marketplace. On the other side, we prepare founders, former founders and managers to take over an existing business.

If you are thinking about closing your business, just get in touch. The first conversation is free.