Management buy-out (MBO)
In an MBO, the company is taken over by its own management. A gradual handover of the company to the management takes into account previous company growth and achievements, such as processes and important customer relationships. The outgoing entrepreneur knows his or her successors and their potential. This solution can be highly satisfactory from the emotional point of view, since the MBO guarantees continuity for the company and its employees. There are, however, two basic prerequisites for the serious evaluation of an MBO:
- Management must be genuinely equal to its new entrepreneurial leadership tasks after the operational withdrawal of the outgoing entrepreneur.
- The necessary capital for the takeover must be available, and it must be possible to amortize the takeover financing out of the expected sustainable free cash flow of the company acquired.
We would be delighted to help you to prepare and implement a successful MBO project!
Management buy-in (MBI)
In an MBI, an external manager or management team takes over the company with the intention of becoming general manager and entrepreneur in their own right. As well as the above-mentioned criteria with regard to financing, there are other criteria which are important to the success of an MBI. For instance, the leadership abilities and experience of the MBI candidates have to be checked more thoroughly since, unlike in an MBO, the outgoing entrepreneur will only have known the MBI candidate or MBI team for a short time. The question as to how well suited the MBI candidate is to the existing company culture also needs answering. Checks also need to be carried out to ascertain the sector-specific experience of the MBI candidate or, alternatively, their ability to quickly familiarize themselves with a new environment or sector. Provided these criteria are fulfilled, MBI candidates frequently have a well-developed network of contacts and the ability to develop a new perspective on the business, both good prerequisites for successful continuation of the company. Do you already know your MBI candidates? We would be delighted to find and evaluate suitable candidates for you, and guide your MBI project to a successful conclusion.
