Reempresa: 1000 successful business transfers and more than 3,200 jobs saved
Publish on 27-10-2016
Start date: 27-10-2016
End date: 27-10-2016
Barcelona, 28 October 2016. This October the Centre de Reempresa de Catalunya has reached the milestone of 1,000 successful business transfers that it set as its goal for the end of 2016. From its launch in 2011 to today, Reempresa has established itself as the business transfer marketplace for SMEs in Catalonia, and has become a solution for hundreds of business people who cannot pass on their businesses and an alternative to creating a new business for so many entrepreneurs.
"The fact that the average time to close a deal is about six months from the time the two parties are acquainted, and that it has helped save 1,000 Catalan companies in the past six years, is a great satisfaction for all stakeholders and organisations that are a part of it," said Antoni Abad, President of the Centre de Reempresa de Catalunya.
The Centre de Reempresa de Catalunya, currently with more than 70 support offices spread over different parts of the country, is made up of more than 150 specialists, who advise the different users seeking to transfer a business or to take over one that is already running, and it is supported by more than 100 business, commercial and economic entities that collaborate with the regions. It is thanks to the cooperation between this combination of public and private stakeholders that the Catalan Reempresa Centre has managed to structure a business transfer marketplace for small businesses of reference in our country.
For his part, the Director of the Centre de Reempresa de Catalunya, Albert Colomer, pointed out that, "the extraordinary results achieved with the implementation of the Reempresa market would have made the headlines had it had been a multinational: an investment of more than €48M and the maintenance of more than 3,200 jobs in 1,000 establishments throughout Catalonia."
Success Rate
Since its launch, Reempresa has experienced tremendous growth, and has managed to save one company a day, on average. If in 2011 there were a total of 13 successful business transfers, with an induced investment of €1M, so far in 2016 Reempresa has had more than 310 success stories around the country, accumulating more than €13M in induced investment.
Thanks to Reempresa, for the first time the country has data on the case studies and characteristics of business transfers. Of the 1,000 successful business transfers that have taken place so far, 35.9% are from the Commerce sector, 29.6% from the Catering sector and 27.60% from the Services sector, followed at a considerable distance by the Industrial sector, with 5.9% of successful transfers. The average price of the operations that have been carried out varies according to the sector: from €40,812 in the Catering sector, €45,922 in the Commerce sector, to €49,306 in the Services sector and an average price per operation of €167,004 in the Industrial sector.
By province, Barcelona contains 75% of the total number of successful business transfers, Girona 10%, Tarragona 9% and Lleida 6%.
Buyer and Seller Profiles
Of the 3,580 sellers, 30% are over 60 years of age and near retirement, while the other 70% want to transfer their company for non-economic reasons: 12.84% because they want to change jobs, 11.20% for personal reasons, 8.75% due to a change of address, and 8.40% because of health problems.
With regard to the buyers, it is worth noting that 51% of those who have taken on a running business were unemployed. This percentage started out as a clear majority in 2011, but has, over time, gained equal footing with employed transferees. “This is because freelancers and micro SMEs consider business transfer as a means to grow, diversify and expand in the region," said Colomer, adding that, “They acquire other businesses that are already running and this allows them to grow organically in less time than it would take to set up a new service point, sales network or offices in another location."
From the start of the project, of the 6,100 buyers, 35.5% have been between 40 and 50 years of age, and here the gender gap is more pronounced than among the sellers. 66% of buyers are men, while 34% are women.
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Success Stories
The best endorsement of the results are the testimonials of the successful transferors and transferees who can explain the usefulness of the Reempresa programme in person: http://www.reempresa.org/Actualitat/Testimonials.
To provide a variety of very different situations, we can highlight:
1.- LÚNIC shop, Barcelona: Núria Comellas worked as a librarian for 16 years, but she wanted to have her own business and be her own boss. Fernanda, the entrepreneur transferor of the shop, located in a modernist building, had over 10 years of experience and wanted to sell her business because she had to move house. Thanks to Reempresa, and after 4 months of negotiations, Núria became self-employed and a new transferee.
2.- Company dedicated to the distribution of packaging and induction seal machinery in Mataró. After having worked the last few years as the Director of a company in the Catering sector, Eduard decided to set out on his own through Reempresa. After having visited the Matchings space at Bizbarceona, he bought 2 companies, one dedicated to the distribution of packaging and induction seal machinery in Mataró, and another dedicated to packaging and blister packs in El Vendrell.
3.- Footwear distributor in Sant Boi. Josep Maria wasn't working and wanted to be self-employed to become his own boss. Thanks to Reempresa, he discovered a company dedicated to footwear distribution throughout the Iberian peninsula, the Balearic Islands and France. After 9 months of negotiations, he finally acquired the business.
Corporate Information
Reempresa is the business transfer marketplace for SMEs in Catalonia. An initiative from the trade association Cecot and Autoocupació, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union.
In this respect, the Centre de Reempresa de Catalunya is part of the Board of Directors of the European association Transeo, and it has been the only Spanish member since 2012. It also participates in the Group of Experts on Business Transfer convened by the European Commission, and it was presented as an example of good practice in the Business Transfer sector at the SME Envoy Network meeting.