When your company is on the table, what matters is who sits beside you.

As orientation from completed transactions: project-based businesses without recurring revenues currently trade at around 3 to 5 times EBITDA, solid manufacturing with repeat customers at 4 to 6 times, industrial services with maintenance contracts at 5 to 7 times, contract services at 6 to 8 times, and software with high recurring revenue at 8 to 12 times and more. Within each corridor lies a spread of 40 to 60 percent. Where a company lands is decided by owner dependency, customer concentration and the competition in the process. A reliable number does not come from rules of thumb but from an analysis a buyer can follow. That is exactly where every one of our mandates begins.

Not alone. An unsolicited offer is rarely a price. It is usually a test of whether you know the market. Neither accept nor decline; have it assessed. In one of our mandates, the friendly offer from next door was 64 percent below the price that six weeks of structured process with three bidders achieved. Silence, by the way, is read as uncertainty; a confident, non-committal reply can be drafted without giving anything away.

Earlier than most believe. German entrepreneurs on average only address succession concretely at age 66.5. At that age buyers already price in transition periods and investment backlogs. At the same time, the buy side has never been more liquid: private equity holds record amounts of uninvested capital, and acquisitions in the Mittelstand rank high on its agenda. Those who enter the market prepared negotiate from strength. Those who wait eventually negotiate out of necessity.

In four phases: a written assessment of valuation and buyer universe, preparation of numbers, story and data room, the discreet approach of selected buyers with a managed bidding competition, and finally negotiation, contract and completion. From mandate to signing usually takes six to twelve months. Preparation that drives the price may take longer. What matters is less the duration than the control: who learns what, and when, is your decision.

Not if it is run properly. Code names, confidentiality agreements before every contact, staged information release and a deliberately small bidder group are standard for us, as is a communication plan for employees and customers for the day the news should break. From you, not from the market.

Good advice costs money, for good reason: the other side of the table is professionally advised, and a mistake in the process costs a multiple of any fee. In transaction mandates our remuneration consists of an ongoing advisory fee and a success component on completion. We are paid exclusively by our clients and accept no payments from the other side and no third-party commissions. Terms are agreed transparently before any mandate begins; the first conversation is without obligation.

We advise owners of mid-sized and family businesses, corporations and financial investors. There is no fixed minimum EBITDA. A company with around €1 million EBITDA may be a good fit. What matters is your objective, the financial position of the business and the issues you need to resolve. In our first conversation, we establish whether our advice would be useful and what the scope should be.

Our advisers have run funds, bought and sold companies themselves. We know how an investment committee decides because we have sat on them, and we prepare companies for exactly that. We are independent, paid exclusively by our clients, and we offer transactions and strategy from one team. And one partner leads your mandate personally, from the first conversation to signing.