Forty-seven mandates were listed on SME Market in Q1 2026. Twelve closed. Of the twelve closed transactions, eight were strategic acquisitions, three were family-office acquisitions, and one was a management buy-out backed by a regional cantonal bank.
On a trailing-twelve-month basis, the platform has now hosted 184 listed mandates and 51 closings. The closing rate is consistent with prior quarters; the volume is slightly below the four-quarter trend, in line with seasonality.
The notable feature of the quarter is the sector mix. Industrial mandates accounted for forty-one percent of new listings — well above the trailing average of twenty-eight percent. Hospitality, conversely, was unusually quiet, with only three new mandates listed.
We attribute the industrial weighting to two factors: a cohort of second-generation owners reaching retirement in machining and electrical-equipment workshops; and a notable uptick in inbound interest from German and Austrian strategic buyers.
Closed transactions in the quarter cleared at a median 5.8x adjusted EBITDA, with an interquartile range of 4.6x to 7.1x. Industrial closings clustered slightly higher than the median; service-business closings clustered slightly lower.
- INDUSTRIAL Median 6.4x · range 5.1x – 7.8x · 5 closings
- SERVICES Median 5.2x · range 4.2x – 6.0x · 4 closings
- HOSPITALITY Median 5.6x · range 4.8x – 6.4x · 2 closings
- OTHER 1 closing · multiple withheld at parties' request
We expect Q2 to be busier. Eighteen mandates already listed in Q1 are still active; another twenty-plus are in pre-listing preparation with our advisory partners. The strategic-buyer interest from German-speaking neighbours shows no sign of cooling, and we observe an early-stage uptick in family-office activity from Geneva and Zug.
A more detailed quarterly memo, including transaction-level commentary on the twelve closings, is available to verified subscribers on request.