Is 2022 a good year to sell your business?

Last year was again a top year for the takeover market. Record figures were set both in Belgium and worldwide. And what will 2022 bring?

 There are good reasons to believe that the market sentiment is right.

1.    Lots of money in the market

There are still many players (competitors, private equity funds, family offices, MBI candidates) in the market looking for interesting opportunities.

Given the low interest rates on capital, there is still a lot of money waiting to be invested in companies. The search for higher returns is real. In addition, taking over a company is fairly interesting given the low interest rates.

One cannot rule out given the Covid crisis, that banks will show some caution and perhaps demand a higher equity or additional guarantees. Everything depends, of course, on the reputation of the prospective buyer with the bank.

2.    The number of SME business leaders retiring is increasing

For more than 10 years, the government has been conducting campaigns to make SME business leaders aware of the need to think about succession in their company at an early stage. Demographic figures show that the number of business leaders at retirement age will continue to increase in the coming years.

Sell your company at the time when you, as a person, are doing well (positive attitude & drive) and your business as well (great results, growth).

This Covid crisis is for some business leaders the crisis too much and therefore they decide to sell their company faster than expected. Don't let it get to that point.

3.    Are the prices okay?

There are currently no indications for the Belgian SME segment that prices are structural declining. If the Covid crisis has had a significant impact on the company, it is anyway not a good plan to sell your company.

Quite a few sectors have managed to keep their business on the same level as previous years or have experienced strong growth in 2021. For these companies, there is no reason why there should be a price impact. Rather the opposite is true. These companies have been able to prove that they can withstand the crisis and at the same time there are enough candidates that are eager to acquire profitable businesses.  

In short, if your company has not been effected by the current Covid crisis and you want to avoid that 2022 is the year too much, the market conditions for a successful acquisition are there: several candidates and good prices.


Photo by Benjamin Child on Unsplash