Anyone selling a machine shop, a contract manufacturer, or a machining business negotiates over customer relationships, know-how, staff, and contracts. But along the way, a single line item often decides both the purchase price and the pace of the whole deal: the machine fleet. It’s usually the largest tangible asset on the balance sheet — and the one whose real value is least often known.
We don’t buy companies. We buy machines. This page explains where the machine fleet becomes relevant in a business sale, what you can expect from us there — and what you can’t.
Three situations where the machine fleet decides the business sale
Before the sale: the valuation basis. A buyer or M&A advisor asks early about the value of the fixed assets. The book value on the balance sheet doesn’t help much here — it follows the depreciation schedule and is often zero for machines over eight years old, even though a well-maintained Hermle C 42 or a DMG MORI NLX can still carry a market value in the tens or hundreds of thousands of euros. Whoever can back that market value up negotiates with numbers instead of guesses. For more on the method: how we value your machine and industrial machinery valuation.
In an asset deal: the machines not taken over. When a company is sold through individual assets rather than shares, the buyer usually only takes the equipment that fits their own production. The rest — older generations, duplicate capacity, specialty machines the buyer has no use for — stays with the seller and has to be liquidated, often under time pressure ahead of the handover. We buy these machines directly and coordinate disassembly and pickup around the handover date.
If the sale falls through: the plant closure. If no successor and no buyer materializes, the business winds down. At that point the machine fleet is no longer a negotiating chip — it’s what gets liquidated. We buy the entire fleet in one move — not just the best pieces — on a fixed schedule, with payment before pickup. Our page on plant closure — sell the machine fleet covers the process, the cost model, and the common mistakes.
Book value, market value, deal price — three different numbers
| Term | What it describes | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Book value | Purchase cost minus scheduled depreciation | Balance sheet, tax advisor |
| Market value | What a buyer actually pays for the machine today | Seller, buyer, M&A advisor |
| Deal price | Negotiated outcome — market value plus or minus synergy, time pressure, integration effort | Both parties to the contract |
Our job is the middle column. You’ll get a defensible market value range for every machine on your list — based on real transaction prices, not asking prices that never actually close. For more on what drives market value: what is my CNC machine worth? and spindle hours and price.
What we do — and what we don’t
What we handle:
- Market valuation of the entire machine fleet after receiving the machine list (make, model, year, control system, spindle hours, photos).
- A confidential on-site visit, outside business hours if you prefer.
- Direct purchase of the machines that aren’t staying in the deal — individually or as a whole fleet, with payment before pickup.
- Disassembly, loading, transport, and clearance, scheduled around the handover or the end of the lease.
- International marketing through our buyer network in more than 15 countries — including for machines that currently have no buyer in Germany.
What isn’t our role:
- We don’t buy company shares or businesses.
- We’re not M&A advisors, tax advisors, or legal advisors. Whether an asset deal or share deal is right, and what liability and tax consequences follow — that’s a conversation for your own advisors.
- Our valuation is a buyer’s market assessment, not a court-admissible expert appraisal.
Timeline: where the machine fleet fits into the sale process
- Before approaching buyers: build a machine list and get the market value for each unit. That takes a day and keeps the fleet from becoming a surprise topic in due diligence.
- During negotiation: clarify which machines the buyer is taking on. For the rest, settle on a liquidation path early — direct sale, or see our comparison of sales channels.
- Between signing and closing: schedule pickup of the machines not included in the deal. Payment to you happens before pickup; the facility is in the condition the buyer expects to take over at closing.
- If the process falls through: shift to a plant closure — the machine fleet gets liquidated as a whole, see plant closure. Insolvency follows its own rules: see insolvency and machinery liquidation.
Generational transition with no successor
A significant share of the inquiries on this page come from owner-run businesses where no successor can be found. When selling the company as a whole doesn’t work out, selling the machine fleet is the way to turn the assets you’ve built into liquidity — discreetly, with respect for the work behind it, and without the machines going to the first opportunistic buyer at a discount. Our guide selling a machine shop walks through this path step by step.
“The most common question in a business sale isn’t what the machines are worth — it’s why nobody checked beforehand. One list, one day, and the question is settled.”
— Marcel Brockmann, CEO and co-founder of MBR
Send us your machine list — market value — confidential, no obligation, free.