Finding a successor means making the business transferable.
You have run a business for years and you want to hand it over without it losing value the day you leave. The search for a successor comes last. Before that, the accounts must be readable, the know-how must no longer rest on one person, and the rights attached to the activity must be verified.
✓Establishment authorisation 10077275, verify on the official register
- Successor profiles
- Internal successor, competitor or complementary player, investor or group, individual entrepreneur
- Confidentiality
- Anonymised teaser, then mutual NDA before any name, then documents in stages
- Establishment authorisation
- Personal and tied to the effective manager: the successor does not take it over like an asset
- Employees
- Maintenance of employees' rights on a transfer of undertaking, provided by the Labour Code
- Public reference
- Establishment authorisation No. 10077275, nine activities, verifiable on Guichet.lu
- Last verified
- 3 October 2026
Four successor profiles, four ways of reading your file
A successor is not a generic buyer. Each profile checks different things and pays for different reasons. The file is prepared for the most likely profile, not for all of them.
- The internal successor (employee, executive, management team). He knows the business, but rarely the financing. The sticking point is the price, and how to spread it.
- The competitor or complementary player. He pays for customers and capacity. He reads customer contracts and dependence on the owner before reading the accounts.
- The investor or group. He asks for restated figures, governance in order and a transition manager. He also verifies the identity of his counterparties.
- The individual entrepreneur. He buys a job and know-how. He needs a real handover and, for an authorised activity, must himself meet the conditions of access to the profession.
Seven checks before looking for a buyer
- The accounts of the last three years are closed, reconciled and free of undocumented restatements.
- The owner's personal expenses are separated from operating results.
- Main customers and their weight in turnover are known, with the duration and transferability of contracts.
- The lease, financing contracts and insurance can be taken over, or their assignment has been sounded out.
- The authorisations attached to the activity are identified, with the manager who holds them and the conditions of his replacement.
- Employment contracts and the situation of each key employee are documented.
- Registers, minutes, articles and RBE filings are up to date and consistent with each other.
The seventh point looks administrative. It is the one that delays the most closings: a register inconsistent with the articles, an RBE never updated, a missing set of minutes. No serious buyer ignores these gaps, and he prices them as if they were deliberate.
What I do in the search
The role is deliberately bounded. I prepare the file, build a list of plausible counterparties, run the first exchanges in confidence, and verify what must be verified before the name of the business circulates.
- Anonymised teaser. Sector, size, order of magnitude of results, reason for the transfer, with no name, address or identifying data.
- List of counterparties. Drawn up with you, circle by circle, excluding from the start direct competitors you do not want to inform.
- NDA before any name. Detailed documents leave only in stages, after verification of the buyer's beneficial owner and source of funds.
- Real estate. If the property is sold with the business, the introduction and coordination fall under the real estate agent and real estate business introducer authorisations.
The sale of the shares of a company is not an activity named in my nine authorisations. For that reason, the mission stays bounded to preparation, coordination and introduction, and the contract says so. The sale agreement, warranties and notarial deed are matters for a lawyer and a notary of your choice.
After signing: the handover
A successful succession is judged six months after closing, not on the day of signing. The departing founder, the team and the customers need a defined period.
- A written handover plan, with dates and owners, annexed to the contract.
- A time-boxed manager or advisory mandate, filed at the RCS when it is a corporate mandate, with its powers and its exit. See the Local manager page.
- A training session for the incoming team, under the authorised continuing professional training activity (10077275 / 8).
Three engagements
Transferability audit
- The seven checks, one by one, with written findings
- Dependence on the owner and a plan to reduce it
- Authorisations, contracts, lease, key employees
- Costed preparation roadmap
Confidential search for successors
- Anonymised teaser and list of counterparties
- First exchanges under NDA
- Verification of beneficial owner and source of funds
- Written reports at each stage
Handover and transition
- Handover plan annexed to the contract
- Time-boxed transition mandate, held in my own name
- Training of the incoming team
- Written review at the end of the period
What I do not accept
- Transactions whose beneficial owner, on the seller side or the buyer side, cannot be documented to a normal anti-money-laundering standard.
- Success-only remuneration, without a prior written diagnostic of the file.
- Any corporate mandate in a company for which I receive a fee conditional on closing: the two roles are never combined.
- Engagements that would mean acting for both parties without each of them being informed in writing.
- Promises of price, timing or buyer before the file has been reviewed.
Start with the NDA
Discussing a succession before signing a confidentiality agreement exposes the business, its employees and its customers. The mutual NDA is the first document, before the first meeting.
Intents covered by this page
Authorisation certificates to download
Each certificate is the official document issued by the Ministry of the Economy, with its QR code. Scan the QR code with the GouvCheck app, which checks the authenticity and currency of the document.
The authorisation is personal and revocable. Public verification: official Guichet.lu register.
Evidence and verification
Every statement on this page that can be verified independently is listed below with its source. Items that cannot yet be verified are flagged and are not presented as facts.
This page follows the site's editorial policy: a statement is either sourced or flagged. Corrections follow the corrections policy. The content is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find a successor for my business in Luxembourg?
Does my establishment authorisation pass to the buyer?
What happens to employment contracts on a takeover?
How long does the search for a successor take?
How is confidentiality kept during the search?
Can I stay in the business after the takeover?
Read next
Describe the business you want to hand over.
Activity, size, attached authorisations, desired timetable. One page is enough for a first answer, under NDA.
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