Scotland’s ‘BIG’ PR firm undergoes £11m management buy out

The deal values the 40 per cent stakes held by owners Alex Barr and Neil Gibson at £4m each with the expectation that they will slowly wind down their involvement.

The management buy-out had been agreed in 2014, but had been kept under wraps until this week, the Herald newspaper has reported.

The public relations and digital marketing agency employs 115 staff in five offices - they were were notified of the move yesterday.

Mr Barr, 47, and Mr Gibson, 55, each own about 40 per cent of BIG Partnership having bought out fellow co-founder Graham Isdale when he left in 2005.

Founded in 2000, The Big Parthership generated a turnover of £8.3m in the year to May.

Explaining the structure of the deal, on which the co-founders worked with Glasgow-based adviser Craig Corporate, Alex Barr said: “While the six other board members have put a modest investment in, the bulk of the consideration will come from the ongoing proceeds of the business.”

BIG Partnership said 11 of its senior people who had stakes in the business through an enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme would benefit from the sale to the MBO team. A company source said these staff would each receive proceeds running well into the tens of thousands of pounds.

Under the terms of the deal the shares will transfer over a seven year period to 2021 with board members stumping up a ‘modest’ sum to finance the changeover with the remainder sourced from ongoing profits from the business.