06
FIRST LOOK MIDDLE EAST
SIMON RANSOM, GROUP DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST, PSAV AND ECLIPSE FOLLOWING PSAV’S MUCH TALKED-ABOUT ACQUISITION OF ECLIPSE, SIMON RANSOM, NOW GROUP DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST FOR PSAV, REFLECTS ON THE HISTORY OF THE COMPANY, REVEALS HOW THE DEAL CAME ABOUT AND EXPLAINS WHAT IT MEANS FOR BOTH COMPANIES MOVING FORWARD.
eclipse was set up by Mark Brown in 2003. I worked with Mark and eclipse as a vendor on various projects throughout the Middle East over the years and eventually, in 2010, he convinced me to join the team. The main objective at that time was to help Mark structure the business so that he could eventually put the company up for sale. An ambitous five-year plan was put in place and, after growing the management team with the addition of Martin Lubach as the GM of the core eclipse Staging Services business, the definition and implementation of structured policies and procedures for the business operations contributed to moving the plan forward. The objectives of that plan were fulfilled within three years and, as Mark was having so much fun, the selling of the business became less of a priority for him. Instead, he decided to continue growing the business; setting up eclipse Venue Services with Sacha Morazain as the GM, making some strategic acquisitions and generally investing to grow the business even further. The company grew very quickly thanks to the capable team that Mark assembled around him and the skills and professionalism that each of them brought to the party. Strategic investment in central functions such as finance, HR, HSE, IT and marketing all lead to leaps forward in efficiencies as leaders in each area were added to the core team and they too then contributed to the growth of the company as a whole. Then, in November 2016, unfortunately Mark was diagnosed with cancer, and just 22 days later, he passed away. From a corporate point of view, not much changed – the company was already structured in such a way that his sudden passing didn’t pose many problems, but obviously it was a massive shock to the system. Mark was an absolutely massive part of the business – he built it from scratch – and his influence is still present with all of us. Some of my discussions with Mark during his last couple of weeks with us were about the plan for eventually taking the business to a sale. The process was all about finding the right buyer, at the right time and the right price. That time was not immediately after Mark passed; the best thing for the business at that point was to stabilise. The management team kept everybody together and we helped people understand that although this was a big loss to us
ME
