3 Dec 2008

Fall in number of business owners selling companies

10:55 am on 3 December 2008

Business owners are delaying plans to sell their firms, and are instead bunkering down for the economic downturn.

The ASB's first succession planning monitor found fewer owners plan to sell their firms in the next five years.

When compared to other surveys, the monitor shows business owners' intention to sell has dropped by up to 10%.

ASB head of relationship banking and financial services James Mitchell said he has noticed a decline in the number of firms wanting to buy or sell.

He said a business owner would have a lower expectation of the value they might be able extract from selling a company now, compared to a year ago.