Buying an existing company in Iceland is often faster and less risky than starting one. You get customers, revenue, staff and a track record on day one. What you also get is someone else’s history, so the work is in checking what you are buying before you pay for it. This is how the process runs, from first search to handover.

1. Find companies for sale

Most Icelandic companies change hands quietly. The owner tells an accountant, a competitor hears about it, a deal happens without the business ever being advertised. The rest are listed. Kennitalan is the marketplace for buying and selling companies in Iceland, with listings across retail, restaurants, services, e-commerce, software and more. Listings are anonymous until you sign an NDA, after which you see the company name, financials and the seller’s reason for selling.

Brokers and advisory firms handle the larger deals. For a company under roughly 100 million ISK, the listing route is where most of the opportunities are.

2. Decide what you are buying

A share sale means you buy the ehf. itself, with its contracts, employees, licences, debts and history. The company carries on as before, just with a new owner. Simplest for continuity, and the only option when licences or contracts cannot be transferred.

An asset sale means you buy the things you want (equipment, inventory, brand, customer list, domain, lease) and leave the legal entity with the seller. Cleaner when the company has old liabilities, disputes or a messy balance sheet. Common for restaurants, shops and small service businesses.

Ask your accountant early which one fits. It changes the price, the tax and the paperwork.

3. Check the numbers

Ask for the last three years of annual accounts, current-year management accounts, tax filings, the main contracts and leases, and a list of employees with their terms. Annual accounts for any ehf. are public through Skatturinn’s company registry, so you can verify what the seller tells you.

What to look for: is revenue steady or sliding, how much of the profit is really the owner’s unpaid work, are there related-party loans, is the lease long enough, and does the business depend on one customer or one supplier. Most bad acquisitions are not frauds; they are businesses that were quietly declining and nobody checked.

4. Put a price on it

For companies under roughly 50 million ISK, the market runs on rules of thumb: a multiple of EBITDA, a multiple of revenue, or assets minus debts, depending on the industry. We have written up the common multiples by sector in our guide to rule-of-thumb valuation. For listings with an asking price, expect to negotiate; for listings sold by offer, expect to be one of several bidders.

An outside valuation is worth the cost on anything above a few million ISK. It gives you a number to anchor to that is not the seller’s.

5. Finance the deal

Few buyers pay the full price in cash. The usual pieces are: your own equity, a bank loan secured on the business or on property, and seller financing, where the seller takes part of the price in instalments over a few years. Seller financing is common in Iceland and often the thing that makes a deal possible; it also keeps the seller interested in the business succeeding. We have a separate guide on how seller financing works.

6. Offer, due diligence, contract

Once you agree on price and structure, make a written offer with the main terms and a due diligence condition. Your accountant then goes through the books, tax position and contracts in detail; two to four weeks is typical. Then a lawyer drafts the purchase agreement. Use one. Warranties, what happens if a liability turns up after closing, non-compete terms for the seller and the handover period are where buyers get protected or exposed.

7. Residency and approvals

Buyers from the EEA can acquire most Icelandic companies freely. Non-EEA buyers need approval in some cases, and restrictions apply in fisheries, energy and aviation. For an ehf., the managing director and at least half of the board must be resident in the EEA unless an exemption is granted. Anyone taking a director or managing director role needs an Icelandic ID number (kennitala), which a foreign buyer can apply for.

8. Closing and handover

At closing the shares transfer, the share register is updated, and the changes to ownership, board and managing director are filed with Skatturinn’s company registry. Update the bank, the landlord, key customers and suppliers. Agree on a handover period in the contract: the seller stays available for a set number of weeks or months to answer questions and introduce you to people. That period is worth more than most buyers expect.

Buying a company is three to six months of work, most of it checking and negotiating. Done properly, you start with a business that already works. Done quickly, you inherit the reasons it was for sale.

If you are looking, start by browsing companies for sale on Kennitalan. Sign up, sign the NDA on anything interesting, and talk to the seller directly.

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change; the content is correct as of November 2026. Talk to an accountant or lawyer before you sign anything.