Getting financial support to perform a diagnosis or help and expert advice regarding the transfer of your company or the purchase of a company

Summary

During its lifetime, a company may be sold to a buyer. The transfer of a business requires specific skills in various sectors, such as financial, legal, administrative and social skills. To best support you in this process, Wallonia offers “business transfer” cheques to support consultancy services. These aim to encourage:

  • the takeover of a micro, small or medium enterprise, which has its registered office located in the Walloon region, by a project leader;
  • the takeover of another company by a company which has its registered office located in the Walloon region, regardless of the location of the former's registered office;
  • the continued takeover of a company, which has its registered office in the Walloon region, during the post-takeover period, defined as a maximum of three years from the date on which the takeover agreement is signed;
  • the takeover of a business, which has its registered office in the Walloon Region, by a transferor.
To help you perform a diagnosis or to help you with the transfer of your company or the takeover of another company, from the company valuation to the signing of the agreement, we can offer you the use of the “Business transfer” cheque.
 
Depending on the level of preparation of the project leader or the beneficiary company, the eligible services may concern diagnostics and consist of diagnosis or inventory :
  • strategic recommendations: action plans;
  • valuation;
  • legal advice;
  • various audits.
But the service provider can also support you in the costs relating to:the company valuation :
  • the search for counterparts;
  • the preparation of the agreement;
  • legal advice, excluding fiscal advice;
  • the performance of financial, social or environmental audits.
Costs relating to strategic support and management advice for the transferee, during a post-transfer period of a maximum of three years from the date on which the transfer agreement is signed, are also eligible.

Key points

You can receive this cheque if: :

  •  You are a project leader, that is, someone who has not yet registered an economic activity with the Banque Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE).
  • You are a company, an individual or a legal entity performing an economic activity, are registered with the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE) and you have your registered office located in Wallonia. Your business must be an SME, namely a business employing fewer than 250 people and with annual turnover below €50 million or a balance sheet total that does not exceed €43 million.
  • Your business is not part of an excluded sector, based on the de minimis regulation (fishing, aquaculture, primary production of agricultural products).

You must have contacted Wallonie Entreprendre beforehand. If you have not identified the service provider, Wallonie Entreprendre) will suggest approved service providers to perform the diagnosis, depending on your needs.

You must use an approved service provider from the partners suggested by Wallonie Entreprendre during the prior exchange.

The total amount of public intervention granted per recipient over three years in the context of “transfer” cheques is limited to €15,000.

You must not have reached the de minimis threshold:

  • Under the de minimis aid regulation, some companies are not eligible to receive this cheque.
  • This regulation sets a maximum threshold of €200,000 for public aid over a three-year period. However, this threshold is €100,000 for companies engaged in the transport of goods or passengers by road.
  • If you have exceeded this threshold, you may not obtain this cheque.

In addition, you must not have reached the maximum public intervention amount for the integrated business aid portfolio.

  • €37,500 per calendar year for the project leader;
  • €100,000 per calendar year for the company.

In detail

Target audience – details

You can receive this cheque if:

  • You are a project leader, that is, someone who has not yet registered an economic activity with the Banque Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE).
  • You are a company, an individual or a legal entity performing an economic activity, are registered with the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE) and you have your registered office located in Wallonia. Your business must be an SME, namely a business employing fewer than 250 people and with annual turnover below €50 million or a balance sheet total that does not exceed €43 million.
  • Your business is not part of an excluded sector, based on the de minimis regulation (fishing, aquaculture, primary production of agricultural products).
Conditions

You are:

  • a project leader, that is, someone who has not yet registered an economic activity with the Banque Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE).
  • an SME, namely a business employing fewer than 250 people and with annual turnover below €50 million or a balance sheet total that does not exceed €43 million.

You must attach the Wallonie Entreprendre certificate to the cheque application on the platform. This certificate will be sent to the recipient and the service provider.

You must use an approved service provider from the partners suggested by Wallonie Entreprendre during the prior exchange

The service must be performed within six months of receiving the cheque.

You must not have reached the de minimis threshold:

  • Under the de minimis aid regulation, some companies are not eligible to receive this cheque.
  • This regulation sets a maximum threshold of €200,000 for public aid over a three-year period. However, this threshold is €100,000 for companies engaged in the transport of goods or passengers by road.
  • If you have exceeded this threshold, you may not obtain this cheque.

In addition, you must not have reached the maximum public intervention amount for the integrated business aid portfolio.

  • €37,500 per calendar year for the project leader;
  • €100,000 per calendar year for the company.
Benefits

The Walloon region funds up to 75% of the cost of the service, excluding VAT.

The remaining costs and the VAT are borne by the company.

Procedure

Registration on the platform:

  • In order to use the platform, all users must create a “citizen” account beforehand.
  • To do this, the user can register via the registration module available on the home page, or activate the account via an email that is sent following the creation of their account by a third party (service providers, contacts at a previously registered company, etc.).
  • Registration/activation is only possible via the secure authentication module with an electronic identity card (eiD Belgium). This process is mandatory.

The application process:

  • The subsidy application may be filed by you directly, but it can also be filed by your service provider on your behalf.

For the first application submitted via the platform, we invite recipients to contact an approved/accredited service provider of their choice directly. They will then take care of the application process for them.

In fact, during your first cheque application, it is not possible to link an account to a company on the platform, because it does not exist in our database yet.
The only authentic source that will allow us to link the contact to a recipient is an approved service provider, with whom the company will be bound by a contractual relationship.
Therefore, it is the service provider who creates the company in the system, upon submitting the first requested cheque under the service agreement, and they will vouch for the identity of the recipient and their contact person.

Subsequently, when submitting later applications, it is then possible for the recipient to file the application for the cheque themselves.

  • This application is submitted solely via the platform www.cheques-entreprises.be and will be processed electronically.
  • In the context of this subsidy application, you must conclude a service agreement (generated by the platform) with an approved service provider for the requested cheque, which will be provided upon submitting the file and the signed subsidy application, as well as various external documents, or documents generated by the platform, and variants based on the type of cheque requested (“de minimis” declaration, “SME test” declaration, prior diagnosis, certificate from a third-party organisation, etc.)

Validation of the application:

  • In accordance with the confidence principle, the administration proceeds to examine the admissibility of the application, that is, to check the completeness of the documents that have been submitted. This check must be carried out within five working days. After this time, the application for aid will be considered admissible.

Payment of the share:

  • When the subsidy is granted, the Region will ask you to pay the sum you get to keep, based on the level of public intervention. This share must be paid within 30 days; otherwise the file will be deemed inadmissible.
  • Once the payment of the share has been received, an electronic cheque that is equal to the total amount of the aid will be placed in your electronic portfolio, which can be consulted on the web platform. The service can then begin.

Service:

  • It must be carried out within the period determined.

Payment for the service:

  • At the end of the service, the service provider sends their invoice and a service report via the platform www.cheques-entreprises.be.
  • You then validate the service provider’s invoice and the report via the same online platform within 15 days. If validation does not take place by the deadline, the invoice and the report will be deemed valid and the file will be submitted to the administration.
  • After submission, the administration checks the file within 15 working days, before paying the service provider. If validation does not take place by the deadline, the application for aid will be considered admissible.
  • You pay the VAT directly to the service provider.

Requests for additional information:

  • When the application is processed by the administration – both during the introduction (awarding) and closing (settlement) of the application – the administration may send you a request for additional information, if it deems that the elements in its possession do not allow it to decide on the admissibility of the application.
  • You, or your service provider, must respond within one month from the date on which the information is requested; otherwise the application will be deemed inadmissible.

A posteriori checks:

  • Your application may be checked after the fact by the Walloon Region, based on random sampling.

Disputes:

  • If the decision is disputed, you can contact the Business Cheques team or file an appeal, in accordance with the conditions available at this link.
Legal references

Contacts

Services

Business cheques contact form
081/334000
Updated on
Process n° : 141631
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