Family succession remains the
finest form of business transfer
The next generation is often already there, competent and ready to commit. What is missing is the financing and the know-how to structure the transfer. That is where we come in.
The situation
Handing over to your children seems simple.
In practice, it is
The obstacle rarely comes from the lack of a family successor. It comes mostly from the difficulty of structuring the transfer, aligning everyone's interests and raising the financing needed to make it possible.
Buying out the shares of parents or siblings requires resources the next generation does not yet have. And as long as the question goes unasked, every passing year narrows the owner's options.
1 out of 3
family SMEs only makes it past the second generation
3 to 5 years
preparation time for a successful family succession
−25 %
of valuation lost on average when the transfer is rushed
Orders of magnitude drawn from European studies on family business transfers.
Where does your company stand today?
Find out whether your SME is eligible for a family succession with our initial online assessment. Five minutes, confidential and with no commitment.
What gets passed on
A family business is more than shares
A name. A way of doing things.
People who have trusted each other for twenty years. That is what gets passed on — and that is why it takes preparation.
You need to know the industry
Not necessarily. The technical know-how stays in the company, carried by the teams. What we look for is your ability to make decisions, bring a team along and hold the course through the first year.
You need to have been a boss before
No. Many of our buyers ran a business unit or a subsidiary in a large group. Operational experience matters more than the title.
The good deals are already taken
Those that go through competitive processes, yes. A large share of our deals comes from our proprietary sourcing and has never been put on the market.
That continuity is what we finance. The rest — the know-how, the relationships, the pride — the family already has.
Your questions
What must be settled before handing over
Five questions linking the company and the family. None is settled over a single dinner, and each one has a cost when it goes unanswered.
Is the successor ready?
Ready does not mean experienced. The question is whether they have already held visible responsibilities, made difficult decisions and earned legitimacy with the teams. If not yet, it is the timeline that needs extending, not the project that needs abandoning.
Do they really want to take over?
Many children accept out of loyalty, not desire. The conversation must take place without the outgoing owner in the room, and with a way out that carries no guilt. A takeover taken on reluctantly always comes at a price, three to five years later.
How to treat the other children?
Fairness is not equality: the one who runs the business takes a risk the others do not. Buying out the co-heirs' shares in cash, at an independent valuation, settles the question at the time of the transfer rather than letting it weigh on the family for ten years.
How to finance the transaction?
This is where most deals break down: the family successor has neither the down payment nor the borrowing capacity to buy out the other shareholders. We provide that capital. The successor becomes majority owner at closing and buys back our stake over seven to ten years, financed by earnings.
How to step back gradually?
A successful exit is dated and written down. The outgoing owner usually stays twelve to eighteen months after closing, within a defined scope — key client relationships, passing on industry knowledge — then leaves operations. Staying on without a clear mandate alongside a successor who is in charge is the leading cause of failure in family successions.
The timeline
A family succession is
built over several years
Here are the main phases and when each one happens. Starting early is what sets a chosen transfer apart from a forced one.
− 5 years
Open the conversation
Raise the question of the takeover, with no commitment on either side.
− 4 years
Prepare the successor
Taking on operational responsibilities, building legitimacy.
Year 0
Finance and sign
Share buyout, PurpleShares comes in as minority shareholder, closing.
+ 18 months
Hand over the reins
Gradual exit of the outgoing owner, at the company's pace.
When the transfer is rushed
- The successor is not sufficiently prepared
- Tax and estate structuring is expensive
- Financing is arranged in a hurry, on poor terms
- Family tensions surface at the worst possible time
The successor is not sufficiently preparedWhen it is prepared
- Operational continuity is secured
- Governance and roles are clarified
- Financing is optimized and spread out
- The outgoing owner and the family alike face what comes next with peace of mind
Where are you on this timeline?
Our diagnostic tool tells you where you stand and which decisions to take next.
Our role
We finance the takeover, the family keeps control.
With our partner For Talents, we remove the obstacle that causes most family successions to fail: financing the share buyout. We take a minority stake alongside the family successor, which covers the outgoing owner's exit and the buyout of the other heirs' shares.
The majority — and therefore control — stays with the successor. The company then buys back our stake in stages, out of its own earnings, over a period of seven to ten years, until the family can once again become the sole shareholder.
Family successor — majority and control
PurpleShares — minority, buyable back
Five minutes · confidential · no commitment
Our method
How we
support you
Five steps, from the first conversation to the handover. None can be skipped without weakening the ones that follow.
-
1 to 3 months
Strategic thinking
Assess the company's future and the possible scenarios, including those that do not involve the family. Better to rule out a family transfer early than to endure one.
-
1 to 3 years, in parallel
Preparing the successor
Building skills, taking on visible responsibilities, and earning legitimacy with the teams and customers.
-
6 to 12 months
Legal and tax structuring
Estate planning, fairness between heirs, and optimization of transfer taxes, together with your usual advisers.
-
3 to 6 months
Financing and closing
Buyout of the parents' or shareholders' shares, PurpleShares coming in as a minority investor, signing of the shareholders' agreement.
-
6 to 18 months
Handover
Gradual withdrawal of the outgoing owner, at the company's pace rather than to a deadline.
Start the first step online
Our platform supports you from the first analysis through to closing: you track the progress of your project in real time.
Can't find your question
The first step is always
a conversation
A first conversation takes 15 minutes at most, remains confidential and involves no commitment.
Start my project onlineCall us
01 84 80 00 71
Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm
By email: info@purpleshares.com
Offices: Paris, Lille, Brussels
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