A number of mostly family-run small and medium-sized businesses in Austria face the same challenge: they cannot find an internal successor.
“And this is exactly where we come in,” says Werner Töpfl. The Paschinger founded the Vienna-based investment company Epoona with Lothar Stadler, which has set itself the goal of entering companies, becoming operationally active there and “making them fit for the future”. The duo has now become a trio: Martin Lehner, long-time CEO of Wacker Neuson in Hörsching, recently joined.
Like Lehner, Töpfl and Stadler also have experience as managers at the top of companies in Upper Austria: Töpfl was, among other things, chief financial officer at the plant engineering company TGW and at the furniture manufacturer Hali, Stadler was sales manager at the track construction machine specialist Plasser & Theurer.
Together, the three managers want to address companies with sales of between ten and 100 million euros with Epoona. The focus is on environmental technology and special machines. In contrast to other investment companies, there is no time pressure to sell the acquired companies quickly, says Töpfl: “It’s about slowly building trust in the companies.” For example, you can start with the takeover of minority shares or company real estate.
Drinking water from the circulating air
Company succession is still often neglected in Austria, says Töpfl. Germany and Switzerland are further along in this area, there are also better structures and more offers for small and medium-sized companies that are looking for successors.
Epoona not only wants to invest money in succession planning, but also in start-ups. The company is already involved in Imhotep, a spin-off of the Freistadt-based Neoom Group. The heart of Imhotep is a water generator that can extract drinking water from the circulating air. (Rome)
Source: Nachrichten
