Bryan Fagan has already done this sort of thing before.
That is, he was at the coal face of the deal which saw Aberdeen-based Dominion gas sold off to the largest industrial gases company in the Americas, Praxair, in a transaction thought to be worth about £100million.
At the time Mr Fagan was the sales director of Dominion, which was sold by its private equity owners, Graphite Capital.
He worked closely with the advisors behind the deal, so when Maven Capital Partners was looking for a managing director for Angus-based Rmec, they had already had their eye on him.
He jumped at the chance to run the business when Maven took a stake worth £7.5million in Rmec, which was founded ten years ago by Alan Ramsay, on his family farm at Cotton of Pitkennedy, near Forfar.
Mr Ramsay as well as business partner Stuart Mathers are still directors of the business but it fell to Mr Fagan, 38, to take the helm when Maven backed the buyout.
The married father of two hails from Fife, but moved to the north-east to study chemistry at university and stayed in the region. He says he always keen to run a business and this was a good opportunity to do so.
“I found I really liked this,” observed Mr Fagan of the fast-paced world of private equity-backed deal-makers.
“Praxair has 26,000 employees, they are a Fortune 500 company. That’s just not me.
“I like small, where you can make a difference. You know everyone and what everyone does. There’s no dead wood. Everybody works and that works for me.”
He reckons it is a little like managing a football team. “Everybody pulls in the same direction. We have a really good team there. It almost feels a bit like a family.”
Private equity-backed companies aren’t always described in such cosy terms, but Mr Fagan believes that Maven are in for the longer term and are keen to grow the business correctly.
“They are not looking or miracles overnight. It is a good long process,” he says.
Under Mr Fagan, the company is currently planning to expand its site threefold – which is lucky that Mr Ramsay’s arable farm where the company maintains its base extends to 450 acres.
The company focuses on storage, maintenance and repair, equipment hire and sale, as well as pressure testing for the offshore oil and gas industry. Clients include some of the biggest names in the North Sea, Conoco Philips, Baker Hughes, GoreVega and Total, to name but a few.
With an additional £2million to spend on the business, the company has been growing fast. When Mr Fagan came on board in April the firm had 14 staff. He expects this will have doubled to 28 by the end of the month
“It’s higher than we expected but we’ll needed due to continued growth.”
But the plan is to grow the firm “slowly, slowly, softly, softly.”
“The business is based on the back of good customer and client service.
“We aren’t going to go out there and double, treble, quadruple the number of clients we’ve got.
“What we want to do is eke the maximum out of the customer base we have got at the moment. Also grow slowly so we retain good customer service. That is what is going to win us more work and drive our revenue up.
“Private equity will always put it in a better shape than when they find it. They will invest and it is up to the management team and me to ensure we invest in the right areas.
“We did that at Dominion and hope to replicate that at Rmec.”
Who helped you get where you are today?
For guidance and sounding boards I’d turn to Bob McAlpine of Hydrasun. He was the chief operating officer of Balmoral Group when I worked there. He helped me break into oil and gas.
What do you still hope to achieve in business?
What any managing director or chief executive of a private-equity owned business is a successful exit. Whenever that may be in one years’ time or five years’ time. That’s when it is right for everyone.
If you were in power in government, what would you change?
One thing I would never so is enter government. Without a shadow of a doubt it’s the worst job in the world.
What are you reading, listening or glued to on TV?
TV has to be the golf. It was great to see the Ryder Cup retained by Europe.
If you were a character in a TV series or movie, who would you be?
Someone techy or geeky, like Q from Bond.
What do you drive and dream of driving?
I drive an Audi A6. I know nothing about cars. My tick list for a car is leather seats, air conditioning and sat nav. What kind of car do I aspire to drive? No idea. As long as it’s not a tractor of combine harvester.
What would your children or partner say about you?
My wife said: “Hardworking”. My four year old said: “You’re quite tall.”
Which charity do you support and why?
We’ve just launched our corporate responsibility chapter. We have the Rmec giving fund. Employees get to choose what local charities can get a variety of awards.