Turks to take over German family businesses

ANKARA

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Turks will be able to take over any of nearly 6,000 German family businesses, thanks to an agreement signed between Ankara and Berlin, with the German government giving incentive payments, daily Milliyet has reported.

The fact that the owners of family businesses already operating in Germany, whose population is aging, do not have an heir to transfer the inheritance or the heirs refuse to continue the business, paved the way for a new agreement for Turkish businesses that export to Germany or seek the opportunity to enter the European market.

According to the takeover plan, which came to the agenda during Trade Minister Mehmet Muş’s visit to Germany last month, Turkish investors who want to enter the German market will examine the database of 5,658 German businesses, and if they see an opportunity for profit, they will be able to take over these businesses with the financial support of the German Development Bank.

In the meetings held with Muş, it was decided to provide a database service where details such as the number of employees, firm size, sector experience, profitability and transfer fee can be displayed in order to carry out preliminary research on the takeover of family businesses in Germany, under the coordination of the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and Climate Protection and the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The businesses that are planned to be taken over will enter the database called “NEXXT-CHANGE” voluntarily. There are 390 businesses with a turnover of more than 2.5 million Euros per year in the database, 1,625 businesses with a turnover between 500,000-2.5 million Euros, 975 businesses with a turnover between 250,000 and 500,000 Euros, and 1,856 businesses with a turnover of less than 250,000 Euros.

While 1,285 of the businesses carry out trading activities, 1,076 of them operate in service, 704 in production, 693 in construction and 74 in the infrastructure sector.

The list of businesses waiting to be taken over include businesses in many fields such as wood, sports products, plastics, automotive, textile, e-commerce, engineering, food and courier services.