[CONFERENCE] Taking over a mid-career SME: challenges, methods and feedback.

"Did you know that over 50% of SME managers are within 5 years of retirement age?

This is a real issue for society, affecting almost 30,000 SMEs in France, across all business sectors. When we ask the SME managers concerned, their biggest difficulty is finding a successor capable of taking over from them. This takes time, and requires you to prepare yourself and your business at least 2-3 years in advance. When you're a busy small business owner, absorbed in your business, and even more so in a period of crisis, it can be very complicated.

There are several solutions to this problem. Family succession comes naturally to mind, but family heirs who are capable of taking over and have the same taste for entrepreneurship as their parents are becoming increasingly rare. There is also succession within the company, in the form of a transfer to a manager or group of managers capable of taking over. This raises the question of financing and skills: taking over an SME cannot be improvised. And you also need to find the capital, which leaves 3 other possibilities: resell to a company looking for external growth, to a financial player such as venture capital, or find an entrepreneur-turnover capable of taking over the company.

Drawing on his 15 years of industrial experience in France and abroad, Benjamin Givelet (HEI CM 2004) has adopted a company takeover method taught at the best international business schools: the Search Fund. During this session, he will explain the stakes involved in company takeovers in France, detail the different options available to SME managers for selling their company, and present the specificity of the Search Fund takeover method. He will take the point of view of the manager, the buyer and the investor accompanying the buyer.

The connection link will be sent to you the day before the event.