E3 founders complete MBO
- Added:
- Mar 05, 2009
The original co-founders of E3; Mike Bennett and Stuart Avery, have completed a management buyout of the digital agency.
The deal sees the duo become 100% shareholders and non executives Dougal Templeton and Scott Davidson exit the company.
The pair started the company whilst at university back in 1997 from the cellar of their student house in Bedminster.
They took on investment from Davidson and Templeton to help accelerate the growth of their business in 2000 at the height of the infamous dot com boom.
Months later the company received national attention as the valuation of their business soared and they were offered £7.5m to sell 51% of E3 to a London based investment company.
They rejected the offer in favour of growing their business and just weeks later the dot com bubble burst.
“They were crazy, crazy days but we learnt a lot about running a business and not getting too carried away” said Stuart.
Today E3 has a team of 45 creatives and developers based at its Paintworks studio and London offices.
Stuart continued:“When Scott and Dougal invested back in 2000 they were heavily involved with the development of the company, but over the last 5 - 6 years have left us to get on running the business so we’ve been keen for some time to take full ownership”.
Mike added: “This is a hugely exciting step for us and we think a really positive new era for E3. It’s been an up and down journey, but we’ve managed to grow and strengthen the business every year so this marks an exciting new chapter for us personally and the whole E3 team.”
“We’ll be inviting some of our senior management team to join us on the board to help drive the company forward and we’re also on the hunt for some non executives to sit around the table with us.”
Stuart said:“For our clients and employees it will be business as usual.Despite the current climate we’ve had a great start to the year with our busiest quarter ever. Who knows how much recession will affect us over the coming months, but we’re keeping positive, paying close attention to profitability and will continue with our plans to grow and invest into both Bristol and London.”
