Suomen Yrityskaupat

History

In 2026, Suomen Yrityskaupat celebrates its 30-year anniversary. The roots of our business stem all the way from the early 1960s, when a Turku-based accounting company called Tilitoimisto Aarnio began providing consultation in changes of ownership. These operations were transferred through a business sale to Intraline Solutions Oy which had been founded in 1996. Our logo, which is still in use, was born from that Intraline name. In 2003 Kauppalehti Oy became a part owner of the company for several years, and the name Suomen Yrityskaupat was selected in accordance with its main business. The company’s principal owners are still the same: chairman of the board Matti Aarnio and CEO Juha Rantanen and his family.

Starting Point

Suomen Yrityskaupat’s business idea was born from the question why there was no national service for changes of ownership in micro businesses and SMEs. Apart from a few local actors specialised in business transfers, changes of ownership were mainly a side business for many actors, such as accountancy firms, auditors, real estate agents and lawyers. There were only a few full-time business brokers and solely in Finland’s largest cities. It was usual to dissolve a business if there was no successor within the family. It was as usual that very few people became entrepreneurs by buying a business, but rather by starting a new business. This was also true for business expansions: expansion through business acquisition was very rare among small businesses.

Business transfers lacked business transfer culture, procedures, experts, market places, markets, buyers, sellers as well as businesses for sale. In addition, another challenge in the industry was small business owners lacking the understanding of the significance of expertise and the willingness or ability to pay for it. Overall, the customers had a very limited knowledge of matters related to changes of ownership. Especially when it came to smaller businesses the necessary information necessary for changes of ownership was unstructured, unreliable and often only known by the owner. A consequence of this was a lot of preparatory work, which no one wanted to pay for.

Financing business transfers of small businesses was a rather marginal operation for the banks and this was partly due to the reasons described above. There were no investors looking to invest in small businesses. Thus, the starting position wasn’t very inviting from the perspective of expertise-based business. It was no wonder there was no national actor in the industry.

The Solution

However, Suomen Yrityskaupat believed this state of affairs could be changed. The spreading use of the Internet helped make systematic development towards today’s operations possible. The conceptualisation, systematisation and automatisation of the whole service was viewed as the solution. The goal was to make the work of the experts as close to an industrial assembly line as possible, which meant the decrease of expenses and more time for actual expert work.

A strong investment in our software and their mechanics followed and lasted for years. Smaller businesses provided good material for this development work, as there were many of them and there wasn’t much competition in the industry to provide them with the service. This helped to produce a large amount of repeats and variations, and the accuracy of the calculations and efficiency of operations were quickly increased. The achieved increase in efficiency was immediately reflected in the prices, which helped to attract an increasing amount of customers. Simultaneously business sales and acquisitions became easier for the customers to understand, which in turn encouraged them to make decisions regarding selling or buying.

Suomen Yrityskaupat today

The question “why is there no national service for changes of ownership in micro businesses and SMEs”, which was posed when Suomen Yrityskaupat was founded, has been successfully answered, and the goal is reached in that respect.

The business operates nationally and internationally. It’s capable of producing a high-quality service in changes of ownership for businesses of all sizes. Our comprehensive service covers all parts of business transfers, such as finding buyers and sellers, advising them, valuations, financing and taxation consultation, formulating contracts and agreements, and of course executing the transfer in practice including marketing. The parties save money in expert fees, because no other experts are generally needed in the business transfers.

We constantly broker several hundred businesses of different sizes, some openly and some quietly for sale. We already have over 23.000 potential buyers looking for suitable businesses through us. We participate in around 200 changes of ownership annually. Our website is also the most popular market place in the industry.

Systematic Approach

Today Suomen Yrityskaupat works according to an operational concept strictly defined in our operations manual. The whole process is systematised from the first contact with the customer to the storing of documents and all other information from the sale or acquisition. All contracts and agreements are standardised, the business has an extensive contract library, the valuations are commoditised and synchronised to potential buyers and available financing. The brokers work according to a common practice and they are trained regularly. The is a price list for the services. The marketing is centralised, automatised and conceptualised. The brand is the best known in the industry in Finland.

Networks

Apart from its own personnel the business has an extensive network of experts and numerous partner businesses and marketing channels. Our agent network already includes 40 expert businesses from various industries. The services of these experts help businesses, for example, to improve profitability, grow, improve saleability, digitalise, obtain financing, or take over acquired businesses. Through this cooperation, we want not only to help businesses succeed and become better objects of sale but also to grow and flourish after a business acquisition.

Cooperation between different experts increases successful changes of ownership. We also want to help these experts, the majority of whom are micro and small enterprises, to find more customers through us. In our opinion, the demand for the services of private expert businesses must be supported more in our country than it is currently. Viable expert entrepreneurship offers many highly educated people or those who have gained significant experience in working life an opportunity for entrepreneurship. It also offers micro and small enterprises significant help in various company situations. We support this development with our own operations. Our agent network is open, and we are happy to welcome new members.

Customer Profile

We offer suitable services for businesses of all sizes. Starting in the spring of 2026, our  Corporate Finance Finland (cff.fi) unit expanded our services to larger businesses and international trade. Typically our clients are businesses with a price between 200.000 and 5.000.000 euros, but the prices of our largest businesses are several tens of. For the smallest businesses we have created the free market place firmakauppa.fi, where there are 1.500 businesses for sale and 500 advertisements by potential buyers. In addition, we provide specialised services, such as succession and family business services, as well as our own experts for customers who speak Swedish and Estonian. Our website is in four languages and valuations can be obtained from us in as many as seven different languages, including for example Chinese.

Moral

We comply with guidelines of the Finnish business broker union (Suomen Yritysvälittäjäin ja Omistajanvaihdosasiantuntijain Liitto ry) on fair practice in business brokering (Hyvä yritysvälitystapa) and the union’s general contract terms.

Suomen Yrityskaupat’s business brokering concept is unique even internationally. Except for the technical solutions, the business is a pioneer in its view of the roles of the business broker and the service for changes of ownership. The starting point has been that the business broker isn’t someone whose only task is to bring the seller and buyer together. The business broker makes business transfers possible, is a professional in trade, who through their own work and expertise builds successful business transfers. This is achieved by connecting the interests of the central parties to the business transfer; the buyer, the seller and the financier, and by creating a balance between these to make the business transfer possible.

The seller wants to sell, the buyer wants to buy and the financier wants to finance, which means they aren’t each other’s enemies or opponents. To reach their own goals they have a common problem to solve: how to make a sensible deal happen. For this reason the business broker can’t be anyone’s defence attorney or battle axe, as another professional well might be, but someone who with their know-how makes a successful and conflict-free deal happen. This means all parties reach their goals.

Responsibility for Customers

Long-term business brokering needs satisfied customers in sellers, buyers and financiers. Only successful and conflict-free business transfers make it possible to be a successful business broker. Suomen Yrityskaupat does not stop at that. We have connected insurance companies, environmental risk assessors, investors, financing experts, business developers, software producers and associations to the changes of ownership. We believe that the business sale or acquisition does not end with the business transfer, but that the business is offered expert help with its different needs, which we identify in the selling phase, and in this way we aim to do our part in making sure the businesses succeed and grow after the sale as well. We also make sure that the seller receives the best possible price for their business. That which they reasonably deserve to receive.

The Most Developed Working Methods and Tools

We are the only actor in the industry to have national cooperation agreements with all larger banks. With the help of these we have been able to develop our valuation system so far that potential financing is taken into account in the value of a business. For this reason, among others, transfers are almost always executed close to the level of our asking price, and financing is also found for the acquisitions. In addition to banks, we are widely familiar with various financiers to whom we direct our customers to obtain financing when necessary. For some of our businesses, financiers have provided indicative financing decisions even before a buyer is known.

Our valuation system is developed by us and it has already determined the values of several thousand businesses. This means our valuations are comparable and form a significant database. Because the value is determined by a broker working on a commission, who also often sells the business themself, the valuation is realistic. Its validity is always measured in real business transfer situations.

Our other tools have also been developed during thousands of business transfers and years of experience. For instance, the thought behind our contracts of sale is that they from the beginning include enough binding and protecting terms for both parties, which makes the process related to the contract very fast and easy for the customers. Business transfers are open and fair, no fighting or misleading. Hundreds of lawyers have developed our contracts and agreements during numerous business transfers. All their wisdom has been put into the contracts and agreements over the years.

As far as we know, our database is the largest database containing data about business transfers and their prices and structures. Our self-developed sales steering and customer management systems have made the broker’s work efficient, easier and safer. For instance, when putting a engineering workshop up for sale, the system processes our tens of thousands of contacts and picks out over 1.000 businesses and entrepreneurs interested in engineering workshops and sends them the basic information about the business. It’s usual that several electronic NDAs are signed during the first hour, based on which our broker initiates negotiations. All events are saved to the system, which keeps the selling process controlled.

Active Social Actor

Through the changes of ownership we have participated in, the continuation of over 15.000 Finnish jobs has been secured and conditions for hundreds of businesses to grow have been created. We know what success and failure in business transfers means not only for the different parties of the transfer, but also for the employees, their families and society both locally and nationally. Thus, Suomen Yrityskaupat does not only bring buyers and sellers together, but we are here to preserve the valuable business sector in our country.

Suomen Yrityskaupat has been an active developer of the business transfer industry. We are a founding member of the Finnish business broker union (Suomen Yritysvälittäjäin ja Omistajanvaihdosasiantuntijain Liitto ry). Our CEO was the chairman of the association since its founding for as many as 21 years. The association brings together various actors nationwide who, in their own capacity, want to promote successful business transfers.

Due to the establishment of the association, the industry now has common rules of play, ethical guidelines, and operating models. The association organizes demanding Authorized Business Broker exams, and those who pass are entitled to use the title AYV, Auktorisoitu yritysvälittäjä (Authorized Business Broker). This qualification, which aims to ensure the high professional competence of business brokers, is reportedly unique in the whole world. We are active in the industry’s international associations (TRANSEO) and a partner of the Finnish entrepreneur union (Suomen Yrittäjät) in many of its activities. In the Omistajanvaihdosfoorumi (Business Transfer Forum), we have been one of the financiers and involved in board work for years.

Suomen Yrityskaupat actively takes part in public discussion about the industry and has helped to advance changes in legislation and taxation to make changes of ownership easier. In addition, we have collaborated with the authorities to develop anti-money laundering measures and have spent years developing suitable financial instruments for business transfers.

We annually arrange or take part in tens of training events around the country. Annually, we assist doctoral researchers, thesis writers, and industry studies in many ways. 30 years of accumulated documentation on business transfers is a true treasure trove for researchers. We currently also act as a publisher. The Arvokas yritys (Valuable Company) book is still a popular, practical guidebook for those who want to increase the value of their company before a sale. We have taken part in entrepreneurship education and furthered the starting of new businesses. For over ten years, we produced the www.perustayritys.fi service, which has facilitated the start of around 15.000 new Finnish businesses.

Suomen Yrityskaupat views the growth and continuity of small businesses in our country as important, and we want to contribute to that in the future as well. Suomen Yrityskaupat openly confesses to being a patriotic business.

Updated 9.9.2026