Every third medium-sized company in Germany is now at least 60 years old. The proportion of entrepreneurs seeking a succession plan has increased from 35 to 41 percent in the past six years.
The difficulties in finding suitable candidates are likely to increase. Business succession within the family is very popular with the majority of old owners. Less popular are selling the company to external parties (43 percent) or succession by company employees (28 percent) and a co-owner (21 percent). Multiple entries were possible.