Business Services

In brief: Business-related B2B service providers in the DACH lower mid-market currently trade at 3.7-8.0x EBITDA (based on DUB KMU-Multiples Q3/2026, analysis by SourcingClub). Buyers are strategic consolidators such as Sweco or Normec and PE-backed platforms such as CERTANIA or Team Farner. A sale process takes 6-12 months, with well-rehearsed buy-and-build acquirers 3-6 months. Recurring revenue and a second management layer decide the position within the valuation band.

Market overview: Business Services in the DACH region

Business Services covers commercial and professional B2B services: testing and certification (TIC), business process outsourcing, engineering and planning firms, receivables management, HR services, corporate training, and marketing and communications. The German services sector grew by 2.1% in real terms and 3.9% in nominal terms in 2025 compared with the previous year (Destatis, press release no. 071, March 2026). Behind this average, however, the subsegments are far apart.

For delineation: Industrial Services as technical services for industry, Facility Management, IT Services and Tax Advisory and Audit have their own sector pages. This page covers commercial and professional B2B services, typically with revenue between €2m and €50m. It also includes the non-medical services around practices and clinics, such as billing, practice BPO and hygiene compliance; the medical service itself is covered under Healthcare & Medical Technology. Environmental reports, analytics and certification without own facilities also sit here, the operation of facilities under Environmental Services.

The market is highly fragmented. In planning, the provider landscape is still small-scale and owner-driven, which is why international groups such as Sweco keep acquiring German firms, 13 acquisitions group-wide in 2025 alone (Sweco Group, 2026). In debt collection, around 755 registered companies face a small circle of large platforms (Listflix Inkasso-Statistik, 2025). HR services and engineering firms are among the preferred target sectors for roll-up strategies in the DACH region in 2025/2026 (ProxDeal, 2026).

On top of this comes succession pressure. Until the end of 2029, around 109,000 Mittelstand companies a year are seeking a successor, and a further 114,000 or so a year plan to close without one (KfW Research, Nachfolge-Monitoring Mittelstand 2025, January 2026). At the same time, owners' price expectations have risen by around 34% since 2019 (KfW, January 2026). This gap shapes many negotiations.

Deal activity concentrates on segments with recurring revenue. The TIC sector counted 267 transactions worldwide in 2024, 84% more than in 2020 (Baker Tilly TIC Sector Report 2025). Growth drivers are ESG and digital certification at 8.4% CAGR, cybersecurity and AI validation at 15% and renewables at 12% (Baker Tilly 2025). On the other side, the temporary staffing market fell by 3.1% to €31.9bn in 2024 (Lünendonk-Studie Personaldienstleistung 2025), and the gross income of GWA agencies fell by 2.7% on average in 2025 (GWA Frühjahrsmonitor 2026). Companies are sold in both worlds, just on different terms.

Private equity has arrived in the services market. 30% of the consultancies surveyed currently see PE as a strategically relevant option (Lünendonk-Studie Managementberatung 2025). Scalable platforms speed up consolidation further.

Who is buying right now

On the buyer side, strategic groups stand alongside PE-backed platforms. What separates the two is shown in the comparison PE investor vs. strategic buyer. Publicly documented examples from the last 24 months:

• CERTANIA group (Munich, TIC): Now counts almost 50 group companies and keeps acquiring in 2026; announced publicly in 2026 alone were ICP Analytik, InnoDiab Forschung, SPGL and Van Santen Advies, among others (Insider Media; certania.com, 2026).
• Normec Group (TIC, Benelux/Germany): Enters the German market for residue laboratories as of 1 September 2025, acquiring Labor Friedle, GALAB Laboratories and International Sampling Service (Normec announcement, 2025).
• SOCOTEC Deutschland (TIC/construction testing): Acquires TRIGIS GeoServices and its subsidiaries in early 2025 and expands its certification business with FOX Certification (Translink Corporate Finance, January 2025; socotec.de, 2025).
• Sweco (planning/engineering): 13 acquisitions group-wide in 2025 alone, and in July 2026 the acquisition of the German water engineering firm STEIN Ingenieure with around €6.5m in revenue (Sweco Group, 2026; Sweco/Windkraft-Journal, July 2026).
• Team Farner (communications, Waterland-backed): Has acquired 17 agencies within two years, including Kirchhoff Consult and komm.passion, and today has more than 600 employees (PRovoke Media, 2025; medianet.at, 2025).
• Infoniqa Group (payroll/finance BPO, Warburg Pincus-backed): Consolidates payroll, finance and HR outsourcing in DACH, most recently with a majority stake in Kell Outsourcing (11/2024) and the integration of Run my Accounts (12/2024) (Infoniqa, 2024/2025).
• Receivables management: In July 2025 the coeo Group moved from Waterland to doValue (company announcements, 2025). The large platforms such as Lowell, Riverty and Intrum grow mainly at group level, while the broad market counts around 755 registered providers (Listflix Inkasso-Statistik, 2025).
• NIIT Learning Systems (corporate training): Acquires the Munich-based MST Group in 2025, an example of international buyers in the German B2B training market (Training Industry, 2025).
• HR services: Established European groups run entire brand portfolios in Germany, and the sector is still seen as a preferred target for fragmented roll-up strategies (ProxDeal, 2026).

Alongside them, Mittelstand strategics and family offices are buying, usually without a press release. These buyers in particular rarely appear through public channels, but through direct, confidential approaches.

EBITDA multiples in the sector

Based on DUB KMU-Multiples Q3/2026 (dub.de/kmu-multiples, analysis by SourcingClub), business-related services (B2B) sit at 3.7-5.4x EBITDA in micro-cap, 5.0-7.2x in small-cap and 6.4-8.0x in mid-cap. Within these bands, the subsegments sort by recurring share and barriers to entry. Strategic TIC consolidators pay 6-8x EBITDA for add-ons; listed TIC groups traded between 12.9x in May and 14.3x in November 2025 EV/EBITDA and mark the upper reference point (Baker Tilly TIC Sector Report 2025; Aventis Advisors, 2025).

Data basis: DUB KMU-Multiples (dub.de/kmu-multiples), Q3/2026, sector business-related services; subsegment classification and analysis: SourcingClub. The EBITDA bands smooth out quarterly swings and are therefore not identical to the raw DUB values in every segment (methodology, in German). Full ranges by size class: EBITDA Multiples DACH.

The growth effect is notable: in the TIC segment, growth drives valuation more than margin, and every 10% of two-year CAGR lifts the EV/EBITDA multiple by around 2.9x (Aventis Advisors, 2025).

What raises the multiple and what lowers it

The spread within the DUB bands is wide for service providers. These factors decide which end a company lands at:

Valuation example: a testing and certification provider worked through

A fictitious but typical example: an owner-managed testing and certification provider with €8.0m in revenue and €1.3m in reported EBITDA.

A strategic TIC consolidator paying 6-8x for add-ons moves in exactly this corridor (Baker Tilly TIC Sector Report 2025). All figures are fictitious and serve as illustration; the ranges come from the sources named.

The sale process in the sector

Realistically 6-12 months from process start to closing. Buy-and-build acquirers with standardised procedures manage 3-6 months, because their review logic and contract set are well rehearsed (market practice in the DACH lower mid-market). The process follows the usual stages: preparation and valuation, anonymous teaser, approach to selected buyers, NDA, management meetings, indicative offers, due diligence, contract negotiation, closing.

Three points are specific to service providers. First, regulatory transferability. DAkkS accreditations for testing providers, the central RDG registration with the Federal Office of Justice for debt collection since 1 January 2025 and chamber licences for planning firms are tied partly to the company and partly to individuals. This affects the choice between share deal and asset deal and belongs at the start of the process, not in due diligence.

Second, the data room. Contract terms, cancellation rates, order backlog and retainer shares are the core of the review. Sellers who prepare these figures cleanly negotiate at the upper end of the multiples band. Change-of-control clauses in framework agreements should be checked before the process starts; they can upset price and structure if they only surface late.

Third, discretion. The most likely buyers are direct competitors or consolidators in the same market. Staged data room access is therefore standard: first an anonymous profile, customer names only shortly before the contract is ready. Retaining key employees also belongs on the agenda early, because departures between signing and closing are the biggest operational deal risk.

Typical deal structures

The following ranges reflect market practice in the DACH lower mid-market; there are no official statistics on this:

• Base price plus earn-out: Typically 60-85% of the purchase price at closing and 15-40% variable over 1-3 years, tied to revenue or EBITDA targets. The more project-heavy the business (agency, planning), the higher the earn-out share. The larger the contract base (BPO, TIC, long-term debt collection contracts), the higher the fixed share.
• Rollover with PE platforms: The entrepreneur typically keeps or buys back 10-30% and shares in the later sale. In the TIC sector the lever is documented: add-ons are bought at 6-8x EBITDA, integrated platforms sold at 14-16x (Baker Tilly TIC Report 2025). The second exit can exceed the first partial sale.
• Vendor loan: The entrepreneur often leaves 5-15% of the purchase price in as a subordinated loan with a 3-6 year term and market-rate interest. This signals confidence in the handover and improves financing for successors and smaller acquirers.
• Transition and advisory agreement: The former owner stays involved for 12-36 months, longer with pure financial buyers, shorter with strategic integrations. This is paid separately from the purchase price through a managing director or advisory contract.
• Purchase price mechanism: In the lower mid-market the locked box, a fixed price on a reference date balance sheet, dominates because it is simple. Buyers protect themselves through leakage clauses. Cash-free/debt-free logic with normalised working capital is standard.
• Asset deal vs. share deal depending on regulation: For TIC firms (accreditations), debt collection companies (RDG registration) and planning firms (chamber and insurance issues), the transferability of licences usually speaks for a share deal.

For PE investors: the buy-and-build thesis in brief

The arbitrage in this sector is publicly documented. In the TIC segment, consolidators buy individual firms at 6-8x EBITDA and sell integrated platforms at 14-16x (Baker Tilly TIC Sector Report 2025). Listed TIC groups rose in 2025 from a median of 12.9x in May to 14.3x EV/EBITDA in November (Aventis Advisors, 2025). Similar mechanics are at work in the agency market (Team Farner: 17 acquisitions in two years), in payroll BPO (Infoniqa) and in the planning market, where Sweco acquired thirteen firms group-wide in 2025 alone (Sweco Group, 2026).

The platform logic: an initial investment in the mid-cap band (6.4-8.0x, DUB Q3/2026) with transferable licences and a large contract base, followed by add-ons in the small-cap and micro-cap bands. Supply pressure supports the thesis, as around 109,000 Mittelstand companies a year seek a successor (KfW, January 2026), and HR services and engineering firms are seen as preferred fragmented target sectors for roll-ups in DACH (ProxDeal, 2026). The mechanics are described in detail in the article on buy-and-build strategy in the DACH region (in German).

The bottleneck is not capital, but proprietary access to owner-managed targets before they enter structured processes. How systematic sourcing creates this access is set out under For Investors.

From my sourcing work

Business Services is an umbrella term, and that is exactly where many search processes fail: the subsegments behave completely differently in a sale. What decides whether a buyer is willing to talk in this sector is almost always the same two points: how much revenue recurs under contract and how much of it depends on the owner personally. Sellers who can document both clearly negotiate from a different position. It is also striking how professionally the consolidators are now set up; many run their own M&A teams and work with clear acquisition criteria.

Next step

Whether a handover is due in two years or only in five: the position within the valuation band can be prepared, and the most active buyers in the sector are known. A confidential match against concrete acquisition profiles shows, without obligation, which buyer groups fit the company, without the company name circulating in the market early.