The road to succession

01 May 2008

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PricewaterhouseCoopers' 2007/2008 global family business survey shows intriguing results; one issue of particular interest is leadership succession in family-owned businesses. According to the results, half the respondents anticipated that their business would remain under family control during the next succession change, with only 14% expecting their businesses to be taken over by private equity, closely followed by those who believed their company would be acquired by trade buyers. These figures vary slightly for Europe, showing a small preference for trade sales

This month features an example of private equity funds taking advantage of this succession wave with the acquisition of Busker by NIBC clearly showing how private equity investment can solve succession problems.

According to industry experts private equity can bring expertise to family-owned businesses, but so can strategic players and they also possess a long-term vision given they operate in the same or complimentary sector. So why should family businesses consider private equity? A reason may well be that funds often see themselves as capital providers having an active shareholding role. Being on the board is not necessarily a priority, especially if the GP and the management team (or owners) have a relationship based on trust. While it gives the former the right to intervene at any time it gives the latter more freedom in running the business. This presents the family-owned businesses with an opportunity that would not be available when dealing with strategic buyers.

Finally, this month Benelux unquote" launches its new and exclusive electronic version. It will support the use of your magazine enabling you to highlight articles through a clipping function and share information with your colleagues more easily. I hope you will enjoy reading and using it. Please don't hesitate to get back to me with your feedback or with any questions you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Domitille Lainey

Benelux editor, unquote"

Tel: +44 20 7004 7475

domitille.lainey@incisivemedia.com.