Succession and sale / Question 1
Do business owners plan their succession early enough?
Many do not. In the UBS Succession Study 2026, 21% of owners aged 65 to 90 could not yet name a date for the handover. A handover within the family can take ten years or more.
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01 / The figures
What the 2026 study found.
Most owners have never done this before. Around 80% of owners founded their company themselves, so most have little experience of a handover. (UBS Succession Study 2026)
Fewer companies stay in the family. 67% of Swiss SMEs describe themselves as family-owned, against 81% in 2013. (UBS Succession Study 2026)
Many have no date. 21% of owners aged 65 to 90 in the survey could not name a specific handover date. (UBS Succession Study 2026)
Few bring in outside help. Only 28% said they would involve outside specialists; cost was the main objection. (UBS Succession Study 2026)
Take the free 60-second check02 / How long it takes
Years, not months.
A handover within the family can take ten years or more. A handover to employees takes about five years on average. (UBS Succession Study 2026)
Owners usually try the family first, then a management buyout, and only then an outside buyer. Taken in that order, the actual sale often comes eight to ten years after the start. (UBS Succession Study 2026)
The sale itself is shorter: UBS puts a structured sale process at six to twelve months. The years go into the decisions before it. (UBS, Selling a company)
Take the free 60-second check03 / Why it matters
The price matters less when the rest is in order.
UBS’s economists point out that owners who have provided for their retirement beforehand depend less on a high sale price. That makes your private wealth, outside the company, part of the succession plan. (UBS Succession Study 2026)
A first look takes about a minute: roughly what you hold, and how large a fall you could sit through.
Take the free 60-second check04 / In Antevo
Start with what you own outside the company.
The free check asks how you would react to a large fall and for a rough picture of what you hold, then compares a modelled fall with the point where you would want out. No bank connection, no documents. Save the result as a baseline by email or with a free account; the private view later keeps investments, property and private holdings together.
Take the free 60-second checkSources
Where this comes from.
The study behind the figures and the primary sources for every legal point. Intelligence, not advice: nothing here is legal, tax, estate or investment advice, and your lawyer, notary or tax specialist confirms anything a decision rests on.