Manufacturing businesses and business units
We advise on the sale and acquisition of manufacturing businesses — in full or as a controlling majority, often in the context of a succession or a strategic combination.
Succession as a frequent trigger
Succession can be an important trigger for a transaction. In many manufacturing businesses the question eventually arises of how things continue without the owner, and it is rarely only a question of price: it concerns employees, customer relationships built over years, and an operation that is meant to keep running. Strategic combinations and the exit of a shareholder are just as common.
Potential buyers and their advisers may approach acquisitions routinely. Thorough preparation helps balance that difference in experience.
So we start with the business rather than the market: where does it actually earn money, how stable are orders and margins, what condition is the plant in, and what depends on individual people?
What changes hands in this area
The choice between a share deal and an asset deal depends on the tax implications, contractual arrangements and liability considerations.
Entire businesses
A full sale to a successor, strategic buyer or management team. In a share deal, the company remains the same legal entity, so contracts, permits and employment relationships generally remain in place, subject to change-of-control provisions, consent requirements and regulatory approvals.
Controlling majorities
The owner hands over control but may remain invested or operationally involved for a period. That arrangement has to be settled before the approach, because it determines which counterparties are a realistic fit.
Business units and divisions
Individual plants, product lines or divisions that are carved out and transferred. Here it also has to be settled which contracts, employees and assets move and what stays with the seller.
Stakes in manufacturing companies
Controlling stakes in companies with their own production, often as a step within a group structure or when two operations are brought together.
What can materially affect the price
Customer concentration, key people, plant condition, capital expenditure requirements and supply chains can all be significant value drivers or risks. If a substantial share of revenue sits with a single customer, or critical process knowledge rests with someone who leaves alongside the owner, an acquirer will price that in.
Such points can often be defused before a sale — by documenting processes, by tying in key people contractually, or through a deliberately designed transition. Which is exactly why preparation should not start once a buyer is already at the table.
The second point is the condition of the plant. A deferred capital expenditure cycle is not a deal breaker, but it moves the price down when it is discovered during the process rather than disclosed beforehand. We recommend setting it out openly and reflecting it in the price discussion.
Third, the question of what the acquirer is actually buying. A strategic buyer from the same sector values customer access and capacity differently from a successor who intends to continue the business. Knowing the counterparty allows the presentation to be shaped accordingly, without embellishment.
What due diligence covers
Review is carried out by the relevant specialists. We make sure the groundwork is in place.
Operational
Depth of manufacturing and capacity utilisation, condition and age of plant, deferred capital expenditure, quality management, certifications and the resilience of the supply chain.
Commercial
Order book and its quality, customer concentration, pricing and margins, competitive position, and how recurring revenues genuinely are.
People
Management structure, dependence on key individuals, age profile, availability of skilled staff and existing arrangements with employees.
Legal and financial
Corporate structure, customer and supplier contracts, intellectual property, environmental and occupational safety obligations, financing, pension liabilities and legacy contamination.
From preparation to handover
Four phases in which the work differs markedly.
Stocktake
We go through figures, contracts, plant and structures and establish which points should be resolved before any approach.
Preparation
We prepare a business presentation that can withstand scrutiny and develop a supportable valuation range.
Buyer approach
We identify strategic buyers, successors and acquirers in adjacent sectors and approach them initially on a no-names basis.
Due diligence, negotiation and transition
We support due diligence and negotiations and help define the transition period, which can be particularly important in succession transactions.
Frequently asked questions
Trigger, structure, valuation and process.
Manufacturing businesses with comprehensible earnings and orderly documentation. Size, sub-sector, earnings, documentation and the ability to continue without the owner are each assessed case by case.
Then that is the first thing to work on. Documenting processes, distributing responsibility, tying in key people — such steps take time and bear directly on the price achievable.
Through earnings value and discounted cash flow methods, multiples from comparable transactions and asset-based approaches. Every method rests on assumptions; the actual price emerges from negotiation and due diligence.
Yes. The transaction structure must define which contracts and assets are transferred, whether employment relationships transfer under the applicable law, how the business being sold is separated from the retained operations and whether shared functions will continue for a transitional period.
The timing, content and responsibility for employee communications are agreed with the owner. Premature or uncoordinated disclosure can unsettle employees, customers and suppliers. Any employment-law requirements are addressed separately with the relevant advisers.
Insights on industry and manufacturing
Assessing earnings quality and operational continuity
How customers, assets, processes, people and dependencies are reviewed in an industrial transaction.
Making an industrial carve-out transaction-ready
The dependencies, transitional services and assets that need to be resolved before a business unit can operate independently.
Environmental liabilities, permits and site obligations
How environmental and site-specific obligations should be assessed in industrial due diligence.
Your contact in this area
For a first, confidential conversation, contact the person responsible directly.
Thinking about succession or a sale?
A first conversation is confidential and without obligation.
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