When Masao Takeuchi signed away the company he'd spent 25 years building from scratch, one of his biggest feelings was relief.

Takeuchi quit a plush job at Hitachi Ltd. when he was 35 to start a firm that writes computer programs for Japan's blue-chips. In the beginning he did everything from a second-hand desk in a tiny room, where he also slept. But years later, successful at 59, he watched as former colleagues readied for retirement, and wondered how he could ever do the same. He had no children, and none of his 90 or so staff had money to buy him out.

Enter Nihon M&A Center Inc., a rare deal-advisory boutique in Japan, which introduced Takeuchi to a young company president on the other side of the country who wanted a foothold in the Tokyo software market. Months later, Takeuchi sold. It was just one of 110 deals Nihon M&A facilitated that year, a number that's been increasing since it went public in 2006. Helping small-business owners find successors has sent its shares up almost thirteenfold since listing.