Newsroom

A few weeks ago, we looked at the coming succession wave in Austria. New figures from the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber now show: the wave is not only ahead of us. It is already moving. To us, this is above all a signal of the substance of the Mittelstand.

Rödl & Partner has published its Private Equity Study 2026, based on the investment criteria of more than 450 investment firms active in Germany. It describes our market rather precisely: the smaller, profitable Mittelstand.

While many are still talking about an economic slump, the new Oaklins M&A market report for the first half of 2026 tells a different story: Germany’s market for company takeovers is defying the headwind, and the Mittelstand is right at the centre of it.

After Germany, now Austria — a market especially close to our hearts. A new study by Creditreform Österreich and CH Consult shows that almost one in two companies in Austria (45%) will need a succession solution by 2030.

XARIS GmbH, based in Vienna, is an Austrian specialist for digital floor checks in the automotive and mobile heavy-equipment trade — and becomes the second company in the Cornus Holding portfolio.

Ventaflex, based in Altenberge (North Rhine-Westphalia), is a specialist in pre-insulated air duct systems produced with its patented Rotafusion process — and becomes the first company in the Cornus Holding portfolio.

The German Mittelstand is home to some of the most resilient businesses in Europe — profitable, with loyal customer bases, recurring revenues, built to last. Yet a striking pattern emerges: only 20% of German SMEs currently use AI applications.

Recently we shared insights from the KfW succession barometer, focusing on the scale of the business successions ahead in the German Mittelstand. The DIHK Report on Business Succession 2025 now adds an important operational perspective from practitioners’ experience.

The latest data from the KfW succession barometer highlights a structural shift in the German SME landscape: by 2029, up to 114,000 SMEs per year may shut down — not because of weak performance, but due to a lack of succession.

We are pleased to share that Cornus Holding has successfully completed its seed financing round. This milestone provides the foundation for building a long-term oriented serial acquirer holding, focused on partnering with high-quality European SMEs and supporting them in their next phase of development.

Our strong pipeline of outstanding, well-run businesses with loyal customers and resilient, recurring revenues confirms the attractiveness of our proposition.

We are excited to deploy our capital and operational expertise to build a differentiated European platform over the coming years.