OSAKA (Kyodo) With small and midsize companies folding at an annual rate of about 290,000, there is a growing reservoir of top managers willing to hand over their businesses.
Also fueling this trend are new tax relief steps on business inheritances and a stock market fall that has reduced levies on company stock given away as gifts. On top of this, aging managers of many small companies are casting about for people who can take over their businesses.
Financial institutions are trying to cash in by mediating between aging business managers and younger entrepreneurs.