Business transfers are becoming increasingly important for Europe as many SME owners approach retirement without a clear successor. A new Commission Recommendation aims to improve the conditions for successful transfers, including access to finance, advisory services, matchmaking and cross-border opportunities within the Single Market.
The issue of business transfers is becoming increasingly relevant for Europe and its competitiveness. An established business already has customers, employees, suppliers, know-how and a position in its local economy. When ownership is successfully transferred, these assets can continue to generate value and employment. When a viable company closes simply because no successor can be found, much of that accumulated value is lost. In Europe, demographic change is making this challenge more urgent as a growing number of SME owners approach retirement, while succession within the family can no longer be taken for granted.
The European Commission brought renewed attention to the issue in June 2026 with a new Recommendation on business transfers, replacing guidance dating back to 1994. According to the Commission, around 450,000 businesses employing approximately two million people are transferred each year in the EU, while an estimated 150,000 businesses risk being transferred unsuccessfully, potentially affecting around 600,000 jobs.
These figures show why business transfers should not be treated simply as a private matter between an owner and a successor. Taken together, unsuccessful transfers become an economic policy issue, affecting employment, productive capacity, skills and the continuity of local business ecosystems. At the same time, they also highlight another side of entrepreneurship. European policy has traditionally focused on the development of start-ups and scale-ups, but acquiring an existing SME is also an entrepreneurial act. A new owner may introduce technology, develop new products, enter foreign markets or change the business model while preserving the company’s existing knowledge, jobs and customer relationships.
Against this background, one of the main challenges is bringing owners and potential successors together. Owners often hesitate to advertise that their company is for sale, fearing uncertainty among employees, customers or suppliers. Potential buyers, meanwhile, may have difficulty identifying suitable businesses in a context where confidentiality is often essential to preserving the value of the company being transferred.
This makes effective matchmaking particularly important. Databases and digital platforms can help, but successful transfers often require more than matching a seller with a buyer. Valuation, financing, taxation, legal structures, due diligence and succession planning are all part of the process. For an entrepreneur who has spent decades building a company, deciding who should take it forward is rarely a purely financial transaction.
Preparation is therefore equally crucial. A business that depends heavily on the personal relationships, knowledge or daily presence of its owner may be profitable but difficult to transfer. Succession planning can involve documenting processes, strengthening management, clarifying ownership structures and making the company less dependent on a single individual. Ideally, this work begins years rather than months before the intended transfer.
Finance represents another obstacle. Buying an existing company generally requires more capital at the outset than creating a very small business from scratch. Potential successors may have the skills to run the company but lack the equity needed to acquire it. Traditional financing instruments do not always fit the characteristics of business transfers, particularly where the buyer is an individual entrepreneur, an employee or a management team.
The Commission’s new Recommendation addresses many of these difficulties. It calls on Member States to improve framework conditions for transfers, including access to finance, taxation, awareness-raising, advisory services and matchmaking between owners and potential successors. It also places greater emphasis on employees as possible successors and on the potential for cross-border business transfers within the Single Market. If a suitable successor cannot be found locally or nationally, the Single Market should, in principle, widen the pool of potential buyers.
In practice, cross-border transfers remain more complicated. Differences in company law, taxation, valuation practices, access to finance and administrative procedures can add layers of uncertainty to an already complex transaction. Improving the conditions for cross-border transfers would therefore serve two objectives at once: preserving viable businesses and making the Single Market work more effectively as a market for entrepreneurship itself.
Business support organisations have a particularly relevant role here because succession is a process rather than a single transaction. Chambers of Commerce, through their proximity to the business community, can help identify companies approaching a transfer, encourage owners to begin preparing early, help assess their readiness for transfer and connect sellers and potential successors with specialised financial, legal or technical expertise. Their networks can also extend the search for successors beyond the immediate territory and, potentially, across national borders.
Europe invests significant resources in encouraging business creation, supporting innovation and helping companies grow. Preserving viable businesses through successful ownership transfers belongs to the same economic agenda.
Entrepreneurship does not always mean creating something from scratch. It can also mean taking over an existing business, preserving what works and giving it a new direction. For thousands of European SMEs facing generational transition, finding the next entrepreneur may be just as important as finding the next start-up.