Slide 1

Insights into the cor­po­ra­te world

Here you will find infor­ma­ti­on and deve­lo­p­ments rela­ting to our com­pa­ny as well as rele­vant indus­try news. Whe­ther it’s cur­rent pro­jects, inno­va­ti­ve solu­ti­ons or valuable insights into the dyna­mic world of manage­ment con­sul­ting – we keep you up to date.
we keep you up to date.wir hal­ten Sie auf dem Laufenden.

Pro­ject MADERA

Suc­cessful MBO as a suc­ces­si­on solu­ti­on for NTS Tisch­le­rei Lin­den GmbH

Return Manage­ment advi­sed BWD Hol­ding GmbH – foun­ded by three employees of NTS Tisch­le­rei Lin­den GmbH – on struc­tu­ring the finan­cing for the acqui­si­ti­on of NTS (MBO – Manage­ment Buy-Out). The share­hol­ders of NTS Tisch­le­rei Lin­den GmbH had com­mis­sio­ned Return Manage­ment to resol­ve the suc­ces­si­on issue and recei­ved advi­so­ry sup­port throug­hout the suc­ces­si­on process.

Foun­ded in 1995, NTS Tisch­le­rei Lin­den GmbH is a modern and suc­cessful craft enter­pri­se spe­cia­li­sing in the design, manu­fac­tu­re and instal­la­ti­on of high-qua­li­ty con­tract fur­nis­hings for indus­tri­al and com­mer­cial set­tings, as well as the design, manu­fac­tu­re and instal­la­ti­on of fur­ni­tu­re and inte­ri­or ele­ments in the pre­mi­um seg­ment for pri­va­te clients.

The manage­ment buy-out has secu­red the long-term future of the com­pa­ny, which employs around 30 peo­p­le at its Schwi­en­au site (Lüne­burg Heath). Buil­ding on the company’s high-per­for­mance machi­nery, excel­lent cus­to­mer rela­ti­onships and moti­va­ted, high­ly skil­led work­force, the new manage­ment will con­ti­nue to deve­lop the com­pa­ny through various stra­te­gic projects.

Return Manage­ment would like to thank both the share­hol­ders of NTS Tisch­le­rei Lin­den GmbH and tho­se of BWD Hol­ding for the trust they have pla­ced in us and for the excel­lent part­ner­ship and coope­ra­ti­on in the suc­cessful imple­men­ta­ti­on of the suc­ces­si­on plan.

Trans­la­ted with DeepL.com (free version)

Frank­furt, 17 July 2026

Pro­ject QUEMADOR – Return Manage­ment Communication

Suc­cessful Sale of IBS Indus­trie-Bren­ner-Sys­te­me GmbH to DUNGS Com­bus­ti­on Controls

Return Manage­ment advi­sed the share­hol­ders of IBS Indus­trie-Bren­ner-Sys­te­me GmbH, based in Hagen, Ger­ma­ny, on the suc­cessful sale of the com­pa­ny to Karl Dungs GmbH & Co. KG, head­quar­te­red in Urbach, Germany.

Foun­ded in 1990, IBS Indus­trie-Bren­ner-Sys­te­me GmbH deve­lo­ps and manu­fac­tures indus­tri­al bur­ners for a wide ran­ge of indus­tri­al pro­cess hea­ting appli­ca­ti­ons. Its port­fo­lio includes solu­ti­ons for both high- and low-tem­pe­ra­tu­re pro­ces­ses, making it an ide­al com­ple­ment to DUNGS’ exis­ting offe­ring of com­pon­ents, gas sys­tems, and com­bus­ti­on con­trol technologies.

Karl DUNGS GmbH & Co. KG is an inter­na­tio­nal­ly ope­ra­ting group with a strong focus on safe and effi­ci­ent com­bus­ti­on tech­no­lo­gies. Sup­port­ed by a glo­bal sales net­work and broad tech­no­lo­gi­cal exper­ti­se, DUNGS pro­vi­des solu­ti­ons for hea­ting sys­tems, indus­tri­al pro­cess hea­ting, and gas engi­ne appli­ca­ti­ons worldwide.

Through this acqui­si­ti­on, DUNGS stra­te­gi­cal­ly expands its port­fo­lio toward com­ple­te bur­ner sys­tems, fur­ther streng­thening its posi­ti­on in the field of indus­tri­al pro­cess hea­ting. The goal is to cover the enti­re value chain—from fuel dis­tri­bu­ti­on to combustion—and to pro­vi­de cus­to­mers with ful­ly inte­gra­ted sys­tem solutions.

Return Manage­ment would like to thank the share­hol­ders of IBS Indus­trie-Bren­ner-Sys­te­me GmbH for their trust and the excel­lent part­ner­ship throug­hout the suc­cessful exe­cu­ti­on of this transaction.

Frank­furt, 24. June 2026

TOP CONSULTANT 2026

Return Manage­ment reco­g­nis­ed for the qua­li­ty of its con­sul­tancy services

Return Manage­ment GmbH has been award­ed the TOP CONSULTANT seal for 2026. This pres­ti­gious acco­la­de is award­ed exclu­si­ve­ly to con­sul­tancy firms that can demons­tra­te the qua­li­ty of their con­sul­tancy ser­vices and their exper­ti­se in the SME sec­tor through out­stan­ding cli­ent reviews.

Sin­ce its foun­da­ti­on in 2002, Return Manage­ment GmbH has been sup­port­ing SMEs with stra­te­gic decis­i­ons, chan­ge pro­ces­ses and, in par­ti­cu­lar, busi­ness chal­lenges such as tran­sac­tions and suc­ces­si­on plan­ning. The long-term col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with many of its cli­ents demons­tra­tes the company’s prac­ti­cal and sus­tainable approach to consultancy.

With the appoint­ment of Patrick Schü­ler, Return Manage­ment is also streng­thening its exper­ti­se in the are­as of busi­ness suc­ces­si­on and tran­sac­tion advi­so­ry. As a mana­ging part­ner, he brings exten­si­ve expe­ri­ence from the M&A sec­tor in Frank­furt, Lon­don and Ber­lin, as well as from his role as CFO of medi­um-sized tech­no­lo­gy com­pa­nies. His focus lies on pro­vi­ding pro­fes­sio­nal sup­port for suc­ces­si­on and tran­sac­tion pro­ces­ses. Tog­e­ther with Georg H. Völ­ker, he is fur­ther deve­lo­ping the consultancy’s ser­vices in a tar­ge­ted man­ner to sup­port medi­um-sized com­pa­nies in desig­ning suc­cessful suc­ces­si­on solu­ti­ons and transactions.

The awards cerem­o­ny took place as part of the Ger­man SME Sum­mit in Hei­del­berg. The­re, the entre­pre­neur, inves­tor and for­mer Fede­ral Minis­ter Dr Karl-Theo­dor zu Gut­ten­berg per­so­nal­ly con­gra­tu­la­ted the award-win­ning companies.

De prij­suit­rei­king vond pla­ats in het kader van de Duit­se MKB-top in Hei­del­berg. Daar feli­ci­te­er­de de onder­ne­mer, inves­teer­der en voor­ma­lig bonds­mi­nis­ter dr. Karl-Theo­dor zu Gut­ten­berg de bekroon­de bedrij­ven persoonlijk.

June 2026

Pro­ject TECTUM – Return Manage­ment Communication

Suc­cessful sale of Flach­dach BREIVOGEL GmbH to TEQT Group AB

Return Manage­ment advi­sed the share­hol­ders of Flach­dach BREIVOGEL GmbH, Bad Kreuz­nach, on the suc­cessful sale of the com­pa­ny to TEQT Deutsch­land GmbH. TEQT Deutsch­land GmbH is a whol­ly owned sub­si­dia­ry of TEQT Group AB, Sweden.

Foun­ded in 1972, Flach­dach BREIVOGEL GmbH is an estab­lished spe­cia­list in high-qua­li­ty flat roof and spe­cial­ty water­pro­ofing solu­ti­ons. Its cli­ents include indus­tri­al and com­mer­cial cus­to­mers, housing indus­try com­pa­nies, public insti­tu­ti­ons, and pri­va­te households.

The TEQT Group is a rapidly gro­wing group of com­pa­nies spe­cia­li­zing in sheet metal, solar, and water­pro­ofing tech­no­lo­gy, with appro­xi­m­ate­ly 50 com­pa­nies in Nor­t­hern and Wes­tern Euro­pe. With a clear focus on qua­li­ty across all are­as, the group brings tog­e­ther some of the most expe­ri­en­ced and dedi­ca­ted entre­pre­neurs in the indus­try. The com­pa­nies are joint­ly owned and fur­ther deve­lo­ped by foun­ders, key per­son­nel, and their employees. Local roots and decen­tra­liza­ti­on form the core of the busi­ness model. The TEQT Group’s goal is to estab­lish its­elf as the lea­ding group of com­pa­nies in the indus­try in Nor­t­hern and Wes­tern Europe.

Return Manage­ment thanks the share­hol­ders for the trust they have pla­ced in us in con­nec­tion with the suc­cessful com­ple­ti­on of the sale of Flach­dach Brei­vo­gel GmbH, a com­pa­ny built up over three generations.

April 2026

New mana­ging part­ner: Patrick Schü­ler joins Return Manage­ment GmbH

On 1 Decem­ber 2025, Patrick Schü­ler took over the role of mana­ging part­ner of Return Manage­ment GmbH along­side Georg H. Völker.

With around eight years of expe­ri­ence in M&A and tran­sac­tions in Frank­furt, Lon­don and Ber­lin, as well as four years as CFO of medi­um-sized tech­no­lo­gy com­pa­nies, he brings com­pre­hen­si­ve exper­ti­se to his new entre­pre­neu­ri­al role. His focus is on pro­vi­ding pro­fes­sio­nal sup­port to medi­um-sized com­pa­nies in suc­ces­si­on and tran­sac­tion processes.

German/European SMEs are facing pro­found chan­ges. One of the major chal­lenges is ensu­ring sus­tainable cor­po­ra­te suc­ces­si­on. With the arri­val of Patrick Schü­ler, Return Manage­ment GmbH is streng­thening its posi­ti­on as an inde­pen­dent tran­sac­tion con­sul­tancy for SMEs. Tog­e­ther with Georg H. Völ­ker and a team curr­ent­ly being estab­lished, Patrick Schü­ler will con­ti­nue to deve­lop Return Manage­ment GmbH with the clear goal of pro­vi­ding relia­ble, struc­tu­red and entre­pre­neu­ri­al sup­port to com­pa­nies in the deve­lo­p­ment and imple­men­ta­ti­on of sus­tainable succession.

Decem­ber 2025

New tech­ni­cal artic­le on the trans­for­ma­ti­on of small and medi­um-sized enterprises

The non-fic­tion book Die Mit­tel­stands­trans­for­ma­ti­on (The Trans­for­ma­ti­on of Small and Medi­um-Sized Enter­pri­ses), edi­ted by Dr. Andre­as Koh­ne and Don Bau­er, fea­tures an artic­le by Mar­tin T. Led­vin­ka and Georg H. Völ­ker in the chap­ter “A Holi­stic Per­spec­ti­ve on Suc­ces­si­on in Small and Medi­um-Sized Enter­pri­ses.” In it, we high­light why ear­ly, stra­te­gi­cal­ly sound plan­ning of busi­ness suc­ces­si­on is cru­cial for many small and medi­um-sized enter­pri­ses right now.

In our artic­le, we show how com­pa­nies, despi­te an incre­asing­ly uncer­tain eco­no­mic and demo­gra­phic situa­ti­on, can not only ensu­re their con­tin­ued exis­tence with a well-thought-out suc­ces­si­on plan, but also open up oppor­tu­ni­ties for rene­wal, digi­ta­liza­ti­on, and sus­tainable growth. Spe­ci­fi­cal­ly, we dis­cuss struc­tures, plan­ning, and design opti­ons that enable a smooth han­do­ver and crea­te long-term stability.

The artic­le was writ­ten in col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Mar­tin T. Ledvinka—we would like to express our sin­ce­re thanks for the trus­ting cooperation.

The book is now available as a soft­co­ver and eBook—we cor­di­al­ly invi­te you to take a look: link.springer.com

Novem­ber 2025

Return Manage­ment GmbH Top advi­sor to SMEs for M&A

As in 2023 and 2024, Return Manage­ment GmbH will once again be among the best con­sul­tants for small and medi­um-sized enter­pri­ses in 2025.

The annu­al ran­king by the SZ Insti­tu­te in coope­ra­ti­on with the mar­ket rese­arch insti­tu­te INNOFACT reco­g­ni­s­es out­stan­ding achie­ve­ments by manage­ment con­sul­tanci­es in various cate­go­ries, inclu­ding con­sul­ting exper­ti­se, cus­to­mer focus and imple­men­ta­ti­on focus. Con­sul­ting firms from various fields of exper­ti­se are eva­lua­ted, such as digi­ta­li­sa­ti­on & AI, HR con­sul­ting, pro­cess and orga­ni­sa­tio­nal con­sul­ting, etc., as well as mer­gers & acqui­si­ti­ons (M&A) / tran­sac­tion con­sul­ting.

In the area of M&A / tran­sac­tion con­sul­ting, Return Manage­ment GmbH ranks among the top 3 con­sul­ting firms in Ger­ma­ny in 2025. This out­stan­ding result reflects our company’s con­sis­tent focus on suc­ces­si­on con­sul­ting for small and medi­um-sized enterprises.

The cur­rent results were published on 2 Octo­ber 2025 in the Süd­deut­sche Zei­tung (issue 215/2025) under the title ‘Con­sul­ting that makes an impact’ and are also available online.

This rene­wed award is both con­fir­ma­ti­on and moti­va­ti­on for us: we would like to thank our cus­to­mers for their trust and look for­ward to con­ti­nuing to streng­then SMEs with prac­ti­cal, effec­ti­ve con­sul­ting in the future.

Okto­ber 2025

Excel­lent Suc­ces­si­on Advi­sor 2025 – Award for our work

We are deligh­ted to share some spe­cial news with you:
The Ger­man Insti­tu­te for Ser­vice Qua­li­ty (DISQ) has hono­red Return Manage­ment with the pres­ti­gious “Excel­lent Suc­ces­si­on Advi­sor 2025” award.

We see this honor as con­fir­ma­ti­on of our dai­ly work: sup­port­ing entre­pre­neurs relia­bly, com­pe­tent­ly, and with per­so­nal com­mit­ment throug­hout the enti­re suc­ces­si­on process.

The award makes it clear that we focus not only on pro­fes­sio­nal excel­lence, but also on trust­wor­t­hy and indi­vi­du­al sup­port that puts peo­p­le at the center.

We would like to express our sin­ce­re thanks to our cli­ents for their trust and to our team for their tire­less dedication.

Sep­tem­ber 2025

Suc­cessful sale of Auto­haus Ranal­di GmbH to the S&G Group

We have the gre­at plea­su­re to announ­ce the suc­cessful com­ple­ti­on of the sale of Auto­haus
Ranal­di GmbH, Wies­loch to S&G Mobi­li­ty GmbH, a 100% sub­si­dia­ry of S&G AG, Karls­ru­he.
S&G AG, Karlsruhe.

In a struc­tu­red pro­cess, we advi­sed the sole share­hol­der of Auto­haus Ranal­di GmbH on the orga­niza­ti­on and imple­men­ta­ti­on of the sales pro­cess and sup­port­ed the rea­liza­ti­on of the tran­sac­tion. Our advice made a sub­stan­ti­al con­tri­bu­ti­on to the suc­cessful rea­liza­ti­on of the sale and the opti­mal inte­gra­ti­on of Auto­haus Ranal­di into the S&G Group in the inte­rests of the sel­ler and his family.

The acqui­si­ti­on of Auto­haus Ranal­di GmbH is ano­ther important step for the S&G Group in the imple­men­ta­ti­on of its cor­po­ra­te strategy.

We are gra­teful for the trust pla­ced in us by the share­hol­der of Auto­haus Ranal­di GmbH and his fami­ly. We are deligh­ted that a suc­cessful com­pa­ny suc­ces­si­on has been rea­li­zed through this tran­sac­tion. We are proud not only to have achie­ved a good eco­no­mic result but also to have gai­ned a strong share­hol­der for the com­pa­ny with the S&G Group, which is geared towards sus­tainable success.

Novem­ber 2024

Return Manage­ment among the top 20 best medi­um-sized manage­ment con­sul­tanci­es in 2024!

It is with gre­at plea­su­re and pri­de that we can announ­ce that Return Manage­ment GmbH has achie­ved an impres­si­ve index score of 114 in the latest ran­king of the best medi­um-sized manage­ment con­sul­tanci­es in Ger­ma­ny. The ran­king is based on a stu­dy con­duc­ted by the mar­ket rese­arch insti­tu­te INNOFACT on behalf of the Süd­deut­sche Zei­tung, in which con­sul­ting firms were eva­lua­ted in cate­go­ries such as com­pe­tence, cus­to­mer ori­en­ta­ti­on and imple­men­ta­ti­on capability.

This suc­cess shows that our work in the field of pro­cess opti­miza­ti­on and stra­te­gic con­sul­ting is app­re­cia­ted. Par­ti­cu­lar­ly in times of eco­no­mic uncer­tain­ty, our aim is to help com­pa­nies exploit their poten­ti­al and ensu­re sus­tainable success.

We would like to thank all our cus­to­mers for their trust and coope­ra­ti­on, which have made this suc­cess pos­si­ble. Tog­e­ther, we were able to over­co­me many chal­lenges and secu­re long-term suc­cess. We see this suc­cess as an incen­ti­ve to con­ti­nue deve­lo­ping inno­va­ti­ve and prac­ti­cal solu­ti­ons for our cus­to­mers with full com­mit­ment and to play an acti­ve role in sha­ping the future.

We look for­ward to main­tai­ning strong part­ner­ships in the coming years and achie­ving new mile­sto­nes tog­e­ther with our customers.

Sep­tem­ber 2024

Suc­cessful take­over of Pfeil & Koch Inge­nieur­ge­sell­schaft by :be AG

We are plea­sed to high­light our con­tri­bu­ti­on to the suc­cessful com­ple­ti­on of the take­over of Pfeil & Koch Inge­nieur­ge­sell­schaft GmbH & Co. KG by :be AG.

In a com­plex and stra­te­gi­cal­ly important pro­cess, we were able to accom­pa­ny :be AG as con­sul­tants and sup­port them in the careful plan­ning and imple­men­ta­ti­on of this acquisition.

The take­over of Pfeil & Koch Inge­nieur­ge­sell­schaft, which now ope­ra­tes under the name PKi GmbH, con­sider­a­b­ly expands :be AG’s ser­vice port­fo­lio. PKi GmbH con­tri­bu­tes valuable exper­ti­se, par­ti­cu­lar­ly in the field of tech­ni­cal buil­ding ser­vices and the deve­lo­p­ment of sus­tainable ener­gy con­cepts. Our advice play­ed a key role in ensu­ring that the take­over went smooth­ly and that the inte­gra­ti­on of the new com­pa­ny was optimized.

We are gra­teful for the trust that :be AG has pla­ced in us and are proud to have been part of a pro­ject that not only makes eco­no­mic sen­se, but also makes a posi­ti­ve con­tri­bu­ti­on to sus­tainable deve­lo­p­ment in the con­s­truc­tion industry.

If you would like to find out more about how we sup­port com­pa­nies in com­plex take­over pro­ces­ses, plea­se do not hesi­ta­te to cont­act us.

July 2024

Best con­sul­tants for SMEs 2023

This year, Return Manage­ment was reco­gni­zed as one of the top 65 manage­ment con­sul­tanci­es in the “Best Con­sul­tants for SMEs 2023” ranking.

In Germany’s mul­ti­face­ted eco­no­mic land­scape, manage­ment con­sul­tanci­es play a cru­cial role in hel­ping com­pa­nies achie­ve long-term suc­cess. In addi­ti­on to the well-known “big play­ers” in the indus­try, the­re are num­e­rous medi­um-sized con­sul­tanci­es that are set­ting new stan­dards with their exper­ti­se, expe­ri­ence and out­stan­ding service.

On behalf of the SZ Insti­tu­te (Süd­deut­sche Zei­tung), the renow­ned mar­ket rese­arch com­pa­ny INNOFACT eva­lua­ted 231 other medi­um-sized manage­ment con­sul­tanci­es in a two-stage pro­cess and reco­gni­zed the 65 best con­sul­tanci­es in Germany.

As the reci­pi­ent of this award, we would like to thank all our cli­ents and part­ners for their trust and com­mit­ment. This award is a sign of our con­tin­ued efforts to pro­vi­de excel­lent con­sul­ting and ser­vice quality.

We look for­ward to con­ti­nuing our exci­ting pro­jects and part­ner­ships and are proud to accom­pa­ny our cli­ents on their path to success.

Sep­tem­ber 2023

Suc­cessful con­clu­si­on of a stra­te­gic part­ner­ship bet­ween CONLED Licht­con­trac­ting GmbH and the ENERVIE Group

We are plea­sed to announ­ce the suc­cessful com­ple­ti­on of the sale of 25.1% of the shares in CONLED Licht­con­trac­ting GmbH, the lea­ding pro­vi­der of inno­va­ti­ve con­trac­ting solu­ti­ons in the light­ing sec­tor, to the ENERVIE Group, a lar­ge regio­nal ener­gy sup­pli­er with a focus on NRW.

In a chal­len­ging pro­cess, we advi­sed the share­hol­der of CONLED Licht­con­trac­ting GmbH in the pre­pa­ra­ti­on as well as in the struc­tu­ring and rea­liza­ti­on of the tran­sac­tion and sup­port­ed the implementation.

With this stra­te­gic part­ner­ship, the two com­pa­nies intend to join forces in the still young mar­ket and fur­ther expand the lea­ding posi­ti­on of CONLED Licht­con­trac­ting GmbH through a high growth rate.

We are gra­teful for the trust pla­ced in us by the share­hol­der and the manage­ment of CONLED Licht­con­trac­ting GmbH and are deligh­ted not only to have con­tri­bu­ted to an eco­no­mic­al­ly attrac­ti­ve result, but also to have hel­ped crea­te excel­lent pro­s­pects for the company.

If you would like to find out more about how we sup­port com­pa­nies in com­plex take­over pro­ces­ses, plea­se do not hesi­ta­te to cont­act us.

Octo­ber 2024

Return Manage­ment
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Lin­ke­din Xing