The senior management team at Evolutions has agreed a management buyout of the post production company.

The deal will see managing director Simon Kanjee, financial director Steve Luther and operations director Owen Tyler acquire Albion Ventures’ (formerly Close Ventures) 49% stake in the company for an undisclosed sum.

“This deal makes us healthier, fitter, and leaner and makes our financials stronger than they have been,” Kanjee told Broadcast.

“It means we can make decisions and act quickly and be properly entrepreneurial without any restrictions.”

Kanjee, Luther and Tyler will own 80% of the company with the remainder owned by other Evolutions staff. Kanjee said the deal will make Evolutions the only facility of its size that is entirely owned by its own staff.

Evolutions has now vacated its Soho Square premises and has moved kit and staff into its Berners Street and Great Pulteney Street sites as it sets about finding “the most efficient way of working”.

“We have to fill up any downtime, which will mean more weekend and night work and is something all of our competitors already do,” Kanjee said.

The management team at Evolutions is now in consultation with “four or five” editors and dubbing mixers about working practices, but he said it was too early to say if any redundancies would be made.

Evolutions is also managing offline suites at a production firm’s premises as part of a drive to “get closer” to its clients.

“One of the opportunities is to use [the production company’s] real estate - it’s about getting closer to the client and moving up the food chain,” Kanjee said, adding that the finishing work would be completed at Evolutions own premises.

As part of the consolidation of its operations, the post facility is spending £500,000 refurbishing edit suites at the Berners Street and Great Pulteney Street sites, adding 200TB of near line storage and 25 Z800s to aid the company’s tapeless workflow. The new rooms expected to be ready by the end of the month.

Kanjee led a management buyout of the business back in 2004, when the company was purchased from then chief executive Mike Jessey and chief operating officer Dave Tidey. Close Ventures backed the enterprise.

 

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