Today we sold Powerscourt.

I thought I might never type those words but also worried that I would feel ambivalent about a sale.

In fact, I am thrilled that Powerscourt, a Sodali & Co company has been acquired by Morrow Sodali, a leading global stakeholder relations firm with particular expertise in investor engagement; advising companies on ESG; and helping boards with governance. Morrow Sodali is majority owned by TPG Growth, part of TPG Capital, one of the world's largest private equity firms (see press release).

I and the other partners will stay with the business and things will be the same but better - more people, more products, more clients (Morrow Sodali has 1,300 corporate clients globally). A world of opportunity awaits us.

I do not feel any ambivalence. This is the perfect deal for our firm.

Thirty months ago, I sat down with our brilliant strategic advisers, SI Partners Global , and we agreed five things we wanted in any future deal: cultural empathy; strategic alignment with a business that would complement us and offer immediate revenue synergies; more opportunities for our people; more services for our clients; challenge for me.

In March this year, after a number of unsolicited approaches from potential investors, I asked SI to kick off a process. We have been on a testing, arduous journey during which we spoke to more than 20 potential buyers, always guided by the five principles I outlined just now. And Morrow Sodali is outstandingly the answer to the questions we asked.

I cannot think of a better, more strategic, more accretive deal in our industry.

The process was long and hard but the business continued to trade well throughout despite the massive increase in workload. Victoria Palmer-Moore , managing partner, and all the partners, leaned into the work - Victoria led many of our presentations to possible investors. David Cohen carried a huge burden with great grace and we will all be forever in his debt. The three of us will continue in our roles.

This isn't the end, just the end of the beginning.

Having said that, this is an important personal milestone on a journey that started around a kitchen table at Duncan Terrace, Islington almost 20 years ago with Hilary my wife and, until yesterday, a Director of our Board, and John Murray, my dear friend and co-founder who died earlier this year - how he would have celebrated our success ...and claimed credit of course!

We started as we meant to continue. Hilary bought our furniture from a liquidation sale on the side of the street in Essex Road, rented small cheap offices over a bar on Ludgate Hill and got to work painting walls and shifting furniture – as the family did each time we moved.

From the get go, certain truths were evident to the Powerscourt team and informed our decision making:

1. Be nimble and opportunistic but above all, be what I called long term greedy, working to improve the business for the years and decades to come, not just for the quick buck
2. That meant investing in people and supporting them. When Victoria joined me in 2005, we started our annual appraisals to make sure that our people were getting the best out of their Powerscourt years. And the number one criterion at appraisal was not about revenue or new business: it was how helpful we were to each other. Work together and we win
3. Culture trumps strategy. When the going gets tough, it is culture that decides actions and reactions. Get the culture right before you get strategic
4. And complete focus on client experience. When other competitors might talk about their relationships with this or that editor, we always said: “It isn’t about who we know, it is about who you are.”
5. And, having embedded the culture, we had a firm of culture carriers. We created it together and nurture it individually and collectively. There have been occasions where I favoured hiring someone for Powerscourt but the partners said ‘no’ for cultural reasons
6. A totally embedded culture meant that we could really concentrate on the strategy
7. Our first strategic was to build super-strong teams with real sectoral expertise, for example in consumer industries, sustainable teams with relationships and knowledge, almost mini businesses but stronger within Powerscourt
8. Then, recognising that in an ever-changing world, client needs change, and having won the trust and confidence of leaders, we added more services to fulfil more needs – politics, digital engagement, campaigns et cetera
9. We did all this remaining true to our culture. One profit and loss account, all moving forward together
10. Today’s announcement seems the perfect next step on that journey: more people, more expertise and more countries with a determination to building a leading international communications franchise with our friends in Morrow Sodali

It is a great day for all of us. We offer thanks to Victoria who has left an indelible and positive mark on the business, to Susanne Bury , our accountant who has kept us honest for 17 years, to Rob Greening who has maintained his honesty and enthusiasm after 15 years with us, to David Cohen who like Victoria has had my back from day one, to Natalia Wykes who has been at the centre of Powerscourt social, cultural and business life for a dozen years, and to all of the Partners and all my dear colleagues of whom I am so proud.

We owe everything to the clients who supported us from Day One, trusting us with the most precious thing – their good name. Ten weeks into the life of Powerscourt with literally zero experience of running a business, we pitched for a huge IPO, eir Ireland , Ireland’s phone company. The CEO listened, said he liked our pitch but the banks and the PE guys favoured a competitor. He told me: “No-one ever got fired for buying IBM.” Still he went with us, the deal worked, we were on the road. Since Phil Nolan at Eircom, hundreds of CEOs have trusted us. We never take it for granted. Earn it every day.

And my family. It isn’t easy with an entrepreneur in the house. Birthdays missed, holidays interrupted and sometimes a monomaniacal determination to win. I think they loved the raw commerciality of it. I certainly would have failed fast and hard without them.

We had a chance and we grabbed it. When I was starting, my dad sent my a very short poem by Ezra Pound about taking your chances:

“And the days are not full enough/

And the nights are not full enough/

And life slips by like a field mouse/

Not shaking the grass”

We have not let the days slip by, we gave it our best shot and will continue in this vein in our exciting next chapter.