Succession EE · LV · LT
Only a quarter have a plan: succession in Baltic family businesses
A 2024 survey found that most Estonian family-business owners want to pass on their company, but few have a plan or a successor. Why that gap matters, and what fills it.
1 min read
In 2024, the law firm Sorainen surveyed family businesses across the Baltic states. Among Estonian respondents, about 80% said they wanted to hand the business to the next generation of the family. Only about 27% had a succession plan, formal or informal, and only about half had identified a successor.1
That gap — between what owners want and what they have prepared — is where companies get sold by default.
Source: Sorainen, Baltic Family Business Survey 2024 (Estonian respondents)
Why the gap exists
Owners who founded their companies in the 1990s built them in a period of rapid change. Many are now in their sixties. Their children have often built careers elsewhere, sometimes abroad. And succession is uncomfortable to talk about: it involves family, money, and the owner’s own exit.
When the moment comes without a plan, the options narrow quickly. A buyer is usually available — a competitor, a foreign group, a fund. A sale is the path of least resistance.
What fills it
A plan doesn’t have to mean a family successor. It can mean:
- passing control to the people who already run the company;
- getting paid fairly over a number of years;
- and making sure the company stays independent afterwards.
That combination is what steward ownership offers. It is not the right answer for everyone — but owners should know it exists before the only option left is a sale.
Where to start
Start the conversation early: three to five years before you want to step back is not too early. See your options compared
Footnotes
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Sorainen, Baltic Family Business Survey 2024. Figures as reported by Sorainen for Estonian respondents; see sorainen.com. We will publish a fuller analysis of Baltic succession data on our data & policy page. ↩
- Written by
- Baltic Stewards
