Finland Has a Succession Problem. Here Is What That Means for Business Owners Over 55.

By Lasse Mäkelä, Founder, Larzon Capital

There are approximately 74,000 Finnish entrepreneurs over the age of 55. Most of them built their businesses over decades. Many have never seriously considered what happens next.

The data says they should.

According to Finnvera's latest market review, there are nearly three times as many Finnish SMEs planning to sell within the next five years as there are companies actively looking to buy. The Omistajanvaihdosbarometri, a national survey conducted by Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in autumn 2024 with 1,476 business owners, found that one in five Finnish entrepreneurs facing a succession situation believes their business will not find a successor at all. Statistics Finland records show that completed ownership changes have been declining for several years, with around 2,800 share sales taking place in 2023, down from a peak of over 4,200 in 2019.

The supply of businesses coming to market is large and growing. The pool of domestic buyers is not keeping pace.

This is not a crisis. But it is a timing problem. And timing problems in business sales, left unaddressed, tend to resolve themselves in ways the seller would not have chosen.

Why the math matters more than most owners realise

When more businesses are available than there are buyers, something has to give. In practice, it means longer sale processes, more buyer selectivity, and greater pressure on price where the business is not well prepared. The best-positioned businesses still sell well. The average ones take longer, at lower values, than the owner expected.

The Omistajanvaihdosbarometri data also shows something worth paying attention to on the positive side: businesses that complete an ownership change tend to grow faster afterward. About half of owners who completed a transaction reported revenue growth of at least 10% annually in the years following the sale, compared to around a third of other businesses. A well-executed succession is not the end of a business. It is often the beginning of its next phase.

But arriving at a well-executed succession requires preparation, and preparation takes time. Most advisors in this space recommend starting the process three to five years before the intended exit date. Most Finnish business owners start, if they start at all, far later than that.

The three paths, and what each one actually requires

Finnish business owners approaching succession typically face three realistic routes.

The first is a family succession. This is culturally preferred and, when it works, often the smoothest outcome. The Omistajanvaihdosbarometri puts family succession at around 24% of planned exits among owners over 60. The practical requirement is a willing, capable, and financially able family member, and a valuation that both generations can live with. When these conditions are met, the process is relatively contained. When they are not, owners who have been counting on this route often find themselves running out of time.

The second is a sale to a domestic Finnish buyer, whether a financial buyer, an industry consolidator, or another entrepreneur. This is the most common route by transaction volume. It is also the route most exposed to the supply-demand imbalance described above. More sellers, competing for the same pool of Finnish buyers, means preparation and positioning matter more than they used to.

The third is a sale to an international buyer, most commonly from the DACH region, the Nordics, or the UK. This route is used less often than the fundamentals justify. As I wrote in an earlier piece, Finnish businesses have real appeal for Swiss and German acquirers, and international buyers bring a demand pool that is not subject to the same domestic supply constraints. A well-positioned Finnish business sold to the right international strategic buyer can achieve outcomes that the domestic market alone would not generate.

The window is open, but it is not permanent

The succession wave in Finland is real and well-documented. It is also happening across Europe simultaneously. Germany's KfW research institute reported in January 2026 that planned business closures in Germany now exceed planned ownership transfers for the first time in the monitoring history of that programme. The competition for quality acquisition targets across Europe is intensifying from the buyer side, even as supply increases from the seller side.

For a Finnish business owner who is well-prepared, this environment is actually favourable. There is international buyer interest. There is financing available for good transactions. And the businesses that come to market in good condition, with clean financials, a capable management team, and a clear growth story, still attract serious buyers and competitive terms.

The owners who will struggle are those who wait until the decision is forced, arrive at a sale process underprepared, and then discover that the market has more choices than they expected.

What starting early actually means in practice

Starting early does not mean committing to a sale. It means understanding what your business would be worth to a range of buyers today, what would need to change to improve that, and what the realistic options look like given your personal timeline.

In my experience, most Finnish business owners who go through that exercise are not unpleasantly surprised. They find that their business has real value, that there are buyers who would genuinely want it, and that the process is more manageable than they imagined. The ones who are unpleasantly surprised are almost always those who left it too late to address the things that were holding the value back.

If you are a Finnish business owner over 55 and the succession question is sitting somewhere in the background, the most useful thing you can do right now is bring it to the foreground. Not to make a decision, but to understand what your options actually are.

That conversation is what I do. It is confidential, there is no obligation, and it starts with your situation, not a standard pitch.

Lasse Mäkelä is the Founder of Larzon Capital, a cross-border M&A advisory firm based in Switzerland, focused on the Nordic-DACH corridor.