sportFACHHANDEL 08_2018 Leseprobe

126 | COVERSTORY | Succession 8.2018
HIGH HURDLES
Share of potential successors who ...
SOURCE: DIHK-REPORT ZUR UNTERNEHMENS-
NACHFOLGE 2017, MULTIPLE ANSWERS WERE
POSSIBLE
40%
40%
... have
problems
financing
... underestimate
requirements
Potential successors face
high risks. That makes it even
harder to find, for example,
matching companies or secure
the financing.
50% 25%
... can’t find
a suitable
company
KfW secures the financing from the house banks and is
therefore the sponsor no. 1 for the small business.
... have
insufficient
qualifications
23%
... fear a high
inheritance tax
burden
company employs five fixed employees as well as
additional temporary staff.
Thereby the path into the family company was, as
it is to many business owners’ children, more of a
way back to Kai Schröer – whereas that is meant in
the best sense of the word. With an apprenticeship
as media designer he had actually chosen a
career aside from specialist sports retail. After his
apprenticeship he worked in advertisement and
only after that he re-orientated himself towards the
family company. So it was in no case certain that Kai
Schröer would eventually choose to carry on with
the traditional company. “Due to my own sportive
activity I somehow always remained close to sports
and the company. After a few years in the advertising
industry I was looking for a new challenge“, is
the way Kai Schröer puts it. Thereby he was looking
for a “business challenge of which one can imagine
spending one’s entire life with. So that’s why I came
back to our company.” By studying sports management
he made himself fit for independence and has
meanwhile been back to
his family company for
about three years.
The management buy
out is another popular
possibility of company
take-over. In the best case
the take-over is thereby
planned in the long run.
Just like, for example, the
Biwakschachtel in Koblenz.
The business with a
history of three decades
was taken over by Daniel
Jung as sole proprietor
and David Kossak as shareholder in 2014. Daniel
Jung had already worked part-time in Jürgen
Wisselmann‘s shop while studying philosophy,
history and English, and had even remained loyal
to the Biwakschachtel after his graduation, initially
in the sales-staff. “Eventually”, Daniel Jung depicts,
“the offer of taking over the shop came from the
former owner Jürgen Wisselmann. I decided not to
become a teacher, but rather take a risk.” He found
a partner in Daniel Kossak, who was also willing to
invest in the company.
Another big advantage of management buy outs:
Because the successor is often already from the
company there are often less problems during
transfer, than during a take-over by a third party.
The successor knows the market, already knows
the important suppliers and industry contacts, and
can seamlessly take over once the old owner retires.
That was also the case with the Biwakschachtel. Daniel
Jung reports that the take-over was made easier
by Jürgen Wisselmann supporting the new business
manager in the store even after the take-over, and
him supporting him with guidance and resources
for a one-year transitional period. Thereby a “seamless
transfer could be guaranteed to the customers”.
But of course that doesn’t mean the shop is going to
be continued without any changes after a management
buy out. Today Jung mainly presents shoes,
rucksacks, climbing ggods, tents or sleeping mats
on a surface of 300 qm. ”The investments I made”,
the businessman explains, “were nearly all put
in the inventory. We took on new products. We
have changed the product range in a way that all
products are there in an organised fashion. Today,
we have triple the inventory in our storage than we
did compared to the point of take-over.” That was
also possible because, in cooperation with the old
owner, a clever solution concerning the purchase
price could be found: “In cooperation with Jürgen
Wisselmann we found a model of financing, during
which the purchase sum was variably agreed on in
terms of him being involved in the business’ future
development, depending on the revenue numbers.
That way we didn’t have to put strain on the shop
with additional financial risks.”
One of the most well-known examples for a
management buy in, namely take-over by a third
party, in the outdoor industry was the chain Globetrotter’s
take-over of the Swabian outdoor specialist
Woick in the year 2014. Back then Globetrotter
didn’t merely get well-introduced stores for its bu-
PHOTOS: ILYYAST + YEVHENII DUBINKO/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM, SPORT SCHRÖER, KFW-BILDARCHIV / RÜDIGER NEHMZOW