The company exchange Grönig & Kollegen AG sells an IT systems house in record time
Since the owners wanted to withdraw from the operative business for reasons of age, and a suitable candidate could not be found within the family or among their employees, the company exchange Grönig & Kollegen AG was commissioned to implement a succession plan.
The company to be sold, which is based in Saxony, has 23 permanent employees and concentrates on a few long-term affiliated manufacturers and has its own call centre, an extensive parts warehouse, and its own repairs department. In addition to comparatively high gross margins, this guarantees excellent product knowledge and service experience, as well as compliance with extremely short recovery times in the event of malfunctions and repairs, which is a unique selling point.
More than 90% of sales are achieved with revolving customers, some of them long-standing, from the sectors of public administration, institutions, banks and insurance. Thanks to long-term customer loyalty with a large proportion of regular customers, the company has achieved a strong and sustainably stable market position far beyond the immediate region, given the size of the company. The systems house generates an EBIT of around €700,000 with a turnover of €6.5 million (Reported EBIT 2019: €713,000).
Due to its good market position and the high level of awareness within the industry, the owners were approached by several competitors who were interested in a takeover in the run-up to the planned sale.
Since there was already a desired successor among these potential purchasers due to long-term personal contacts, the company exchange Grönig & Kollegen concentrated on negotiating with this prospective purchaser after in-depth analysis, evaluation and determination of a suitable transaction structure and the creation of a meaningful sales memorandum. This industry-wide acknowledged expert is currently building a group of IT systems houses across Germany, into which he would like to integrate our clients' company.
Since a basic agreement regarding the purchase price for the operating company was quickly reached after short but very intensive negotiations, as well as for the additional property to be taken over and the transaction structure proposed by us, we were able to begin a very stringent and amicable ongoing due diligence just a few weeks after the start of our activities.
Following this successful phase, tough but fair negotiations began again to determine the final purchase price and the relevant further modalities for finalising the transaction.
Based on a very objective and comprehensive sales memorandum, also from the purchaser's perspective, a realistic company valuation, the purchaser's extensive market knowledge and tough but at all times fair negotiations, the purchase contract was signed just 3 months after our activities began. Due to a time-consuming, complex financing structure, it then took another 3 months until the company and property were legally passed into the ownership of the purchaser. Less than 6 months passed between the initial contact and the completed transfer of ownership to the purchaser.
For both the vendor and the purchaser, this was a very successful, professional company sale, in which the desired price could be realised and both parties could always trust the expertise, negotiating skills and moderation of the company exchange Grönig & Kollegen AG.
Since the purchaser was also convinced of our deep and long-term experience, especially in the field of IT, he has entrusted us with sourcing further suitable targets for the further expansion of his group of companies.