Search Funds Characteristics of a New Group of Investors in Poland for Family Businesses Facing the Lack of Succession

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze search funds as a new group of investment vehicles in Poland that constitutes a group of potential investors for family companies facing the lack of succession.

Methodology: The theoretical part presents family businesses, considers the problem of succession in Poland, and analyzes the literature on available forms of divestment of a family business owner.

Moreover, the article presents the roots of search funds creation and their characteristics, which reveals these investment vehicles as theoretically perfect for family businesses without successors. The empirical part presents a study into the sale of a Polish family business to a search fund, which was the first and only search fund deal in Poland until the end of 2020.

Findings: The study revealed that the sale of a family business to a search fund should be included in the catalog of possible forms of divestment of a family business owner facing the lack of successors.

Originality: The article fills a gap in the literature on family entrepreneurship in the context of selling a business to a search fund in Poland, which has not yet been indicated as one of the methods for owners to exit a business.