Staffing & HR Acquisitions in 2019

NSC Technologies has acquired Tucson- and Phoenix-based staffing firm Staff Matters, Inc. The add-on expands NSC's presence in the Western U.S., particularly Arizona, and brings Staff Matters' technical, professional and light-industrial staffing capabilities to NSC's platform (which is PE-backed by White Wolf Capital).

Proman, a family-owned French HR and temporary employment group, is becoming a shareholder in Belgium-based Agilitas Group, creating a combined organisation that would be the sixth-largest European temporary employment agency with a combined 2019 turnover of EUR 2.8 billion. Gilde Buy Out Partners and Agilitas management will remain significant minority shareholders; the deal is subject to European competition approval and will not affect day-to-day operations or employment.

Hire Dynamics, a portfolio company of MSouth Equity Partners, has completed the acquisition of Trace Staffing Solutions. The add-on expands Hire Dynamics' branch footprint and allows Trace to leverage Hire Dynamics' recruiting technology, training and brand to accelerate growth across South Georgia, coastal South Carolina, Virginia and northern Florida.

ACS Group (formerly American Cybersystems) acquired The Ascent Services Group, a national IT and life sciences consulting and staffing firm, in a transaction that closed in December 2019. The acquisition — from Ascent's financial sponsor Sycamore Hill Capital Partners — expands ACS Group's geographic footprint and strengthens its IT and life-sciences staffing capabilities as ACS pushes toward the $1 billion revenue milestone.

Silver Lake has signed a definitive agreement to acquire First Advantage, a global provider of background screening, drug testing and identity solutions, from Symphony Technology Group. The deal will support First Advantage's technology differentiation and accelerate growth while First Advantage's senior management remains in place and meaningful equity holders.

The Planet Group, a portfolio company of MidOcean Partners, has agreed to acquire WinterWyman, a long-established staffing firm serving the Northeastern U.S. The deal expands Planet's professional staffing and consulting offerings—particularly in technology, finance & admin, and human resources—and is intended to drive cross-selling and further M&A growth for the platform.

ZRG, a global executive search firm, has acquired the Toft Group, a boutique life sciences and biotech executive recruiting firm. The acquisition expands ZRG's life sciences practice, adds approximately $10 million in annual revenue, and strengthens the firm's West Coast presence and expertise in early-stage biotech recruiting.

Alvarez & Marsal Capital (A&M Capital) has acquired ettain group from NMS Capital as part of a transaction that included ettain receiving a majority investment and pursuing immediate M&A. Concurrently, ettain group acquired Global Employment Solutions (GES) and Leidos Inc.'s commercial EHR consulting business (Leidos Health, LLC) to expand its Healthcare IT capabilities and broaden its IT staffing footprint across key U.S. markets.

PrimePay, LLC acquired the assets of Interlogic Outsourcing, Inc. (IOI) following IOI’s August 2019 bankruptcy filing; the purchase (approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court) included IOI’s client base, employees, intellectual property and a portion of physical property. PrimePay will onboard IOI’s clients and staff and integrate IOI’s payroll and HR capabilities into its nationwide services offering.

Bullhorn, the Boston-based staffing software provider, has acquired Erecruit, an end-to-end applicant tracking and pay-and-bill software vendor serving staffing and recruitment firms. The acquisition is intended to expand Bullhorn One's capabilities — particularly pay & bill, onboarding, and mobile candidate experience — and accelerate digital transformation for staffing customers. Terms were not disclosed.

Lyneer Staffing Solutions, a national staffing firm backed by Palm Beach Capital, has acquired Anchor Staffing, a mid-Atlantic regional staffing firm based in Hanover, Maryland. The add-on expands Lyneer's presence and service capabilities in the Mid-Atlantic; financial terms were not disclosed.

Aethon, together with private equity partner Mentha Capital, has joined forces with Samen Professionals to combine their staffing and secondment capabilities across healthcare and education in the Netherlands. Samen Professionals—founded in 2011 and operating from six locations with over 450 professionals—will expand Aethon’s national network and service offering to clients and employees.

The Execu|Search Group, a portfolio company of New Heritage Capital, acquired TechLink, a New Jersey-based provider of temporary technology staffing solutions. The add-on expands Execu|Search's technology staffing capabilities and scale in the New York tri-state area to better serve clients nationwide.

FFL Partners has completed a majority recapitalization of ALKU, a specialized consulting and staffing firm headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts. ALKU CEO Mark Eldridge and the management team invested alongside FFL, while existing investor WestView Capital Partners received liquidity and remains an investor in the company; the transaction provides capital and operational resources to support ALKU's continued growth and service expansion.

Diversified Search, a ShoreView portfolio company, has acquired Grant Cooper and Associates, a St. Louis–based retained executive search firm specializing in healthcare. The deal expands Diversified Search's capabilities in academic healthcare and represents an add-on acquisition to the ShoreView-backed platform.

Aquiline Capital Partners has entered a definitive agreement to acquire CoAdvantage, a Tampa-based professional employer organization (PEO), from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. The deal (terms undisclosed) will keep CoAdvantage's management team in place as Aquiline supports the company's growth and acquisition strategy to expand its HR outsourcing and benefits administration capabilities.

Triage Medical Staffing, an Omaha-based national medical staffing agency, has acquired Aspen Medical Staffing, a St. Cloud, Minnesota firm that places rehabilitation therapists in travel, contract and permanent roles. The deal expands Triage's rehab and travel therapy capabilities and adds Aspen's experienced recruiting team to support first-time and traveling therapists nationwide.

Gladstone Investment Corporation partnered with Slate Capital Group and members of Horizon's executive management to acquire Horizon Facilities Services, a provider of outsourced labor solutions and commercial janitorial services headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Gladstone provided equity and senior secured debt to complete the transaction; the partnership will support Horizon's next phase of growth in the outsourced labor and facilities services market.

Riviera Partners, a San Francisco-based executive search firm, closed a $25 million minority growth investment led by the growth equity teams at Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and ROCA Partners. The financing will fund geographic expansion, strategic acquisitions, enhancements to Riviera's Sutro machine-learning recruiting platform, and additional hires to support growth.

ShoreView Industries has made a minority/growth investment in Diversified Search to provide liquidity to certain shareholders and capital to support the firm's add-on acquisition strategy. Shortly after the investment, Diversified Search completed the acquisition of Koya Leadership Partners, a Newburyport, Massachusetts-based retained executive search firm focused on non-profit and higher education clients.

iSolved HCM, an Accel-KKR portfolio company, has acquired HK Payroll Services Inc. (HKP), a Dubuque, Iowa-based payroll services provider. The acquisition brings HKP customers and staff onto the iSolved platform—providing access to iSolved's payroll, HR, time tracking and learning tools—and represents an add-on to iSolved's HCM platform footprint in the Midwest.

RF Investment Partners SBIC has made a growth capital investment in True Talent Advisory, a Haddonfield, New Jersey–based, tech-enabled human capital platform. The funding will support True's platform investments and expansion to meet growing market demand across technology, consumer, healthcare and financial services clients.

Accel-KKR provided a significant growth equity investment in Safeguard Global to support product innovation and the company’s global expansion. The capital will be used to advance Safeguard Global’s workforce deployment and payroll solutions and expand its international footprint to better serve multinational customers.

Safeguard Global acquired Europe-based WorkFor Group (Adm In Staff, SA), including its WorkFor employment outsourcing capability and AdminMe payroll processing business, closing the transaction on April 25, 2019. The deal combines Safeguard Global's global payroll and employment outsourcing services with WorkFor/AdminMe products and in-market European talent to accelerate product, service and technology development and deepen European market expertise.

Engage2Excel Group, a portfolio company of Comvest Partners, has acquired Rideau, Inc., a Montreal-based provider of employee recognition solutions, as an add-on to bolster its career experience platform. The deal brings Rideau's Vistance analytics and learning platform, multiple international offices, and industry expertise into E2E Group to expand capabilities for employee recognition, engagement and retention.

NSC Technologies, a portfolio company backed by White Wolf Capital, has acquired two Indiana-based staffing firms — Staffing Resources, Inc. and ULG Companies, LLC — as add-on acquisitions to expand its Midwest footprint and broaden its industrial and maritime staffing capabilities. The deals are intended to consolidate NSC’s presence in the maritime/naval shipbuilding and repair markets and to grow its light industrial business.

LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, has invested £17.6 million to support a management buy-out of Amberjack, a UK specialist in Early Careers and large-scale recruitment programmes. The capital will be used to accelerate Amberjack's growth, invest in its software and technology offerings, and support potential complementary acquisitions.

DIVERSANT, a Red Bank-based IT staffing firm, has acquired Alliance of Computer Professionals (ACP), a Minneapolis-based IT staffing company. The acquisition expands DIVERSANT’s footprint into the Minneapolis and Atlanta markets and aims to broaden service offerings and career opportunities for ACP consultants and employees.

Questco has acquired National Payroll Specialists (NPS), a Phoenix-area provider of outsourced HR and payroll services for small- and medium-sized businesses. The deal is Questco’s second add-on in the PEO space and expands the company’s presence into Arizona while diversifying its work-site employee base and accelerating NPS’s growth through Questco’s technology and resources.

SE Capital Partners, in partnership with single-family office Berggruen Holdings, has acquired TLC Companies, a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota-based provider of outsourced HR services to the transportation industry. The seller was High Street Capital (with co-investors Cohesive Capital Partners, Marquette Capital Partners and Merion Investment Partners); the transaction represents a change-of-control buyout to support a platform build in the niche PEO/payroll market.

Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS) has acquired FoodStaff, a Charleston-based provider of food and beverage personnel that will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary with its brand retained. The acquisition expands HSS's service capabilities in food & beverage staffing across its national branch network and aims to deepen support for clients in hospitality, education, corporate dining and events.

Investcorp has acquired a controlling stake in Revature, a Reston, Virginia-based technology talent development and IT staffing company. The transaction (terms undisclosed) will support Revature's growth and expansion of its Fortune 500 client base, with Revature CEO Ashwin Bharath remaining in place and University Ventures exiting its investment.

K1 Investment Management made a majority investment of over $200 million in Jobvite to create a unified, end-to-end talent acquisition platform. As part of the transaction Jobvite announced acquisitions of Talemetry, RolePoint and Canvas to expand recruiting, referral and conversational recruiting capabilities across its SaaS offering.

univativ Group, a Triton Smaller Mid-Cap Fund company, has acquired QISS-IT, an IT temporary-staffing specialist headquartered in The Hague (with operations in Curaçao). QISS-IT founder and CEO José van Dalen will remain significantly invested and will play a key role in the combined business; terms were not disclosed.

Silver Oak Services Partners led a recapitalization of Keystone Partners, investing alongside Keystone's senior management to provide capital and support for platform growth. Keystone, headquartered in Boston, is a provider of outplacement, career management, executive coaching, and leadership development services and will continue to be led by its existing management team, which retained a significant ownership stake.

Addison Group, backed by Odyssey Investment Partners, has acquired DLC Group, a Los Angeles–based finance and accounting consulting and staffing firm; financial terms were not disclosed. Gryphon Investors exited its investment in DLC Group as part of the transaction. The deal expands Addison's finance and accounting capabilities and strengthens its presence in Los Angeles and Southern California.

Community Brands, a provider of cloud-based software for associations, nonprofits, K-12 schools and faith-based organizations, announced the acquisition of AmericanChecked, Shield Screening and U.S. Information Search to deepen its background screening capabilities. The deals add employment and tenant screening services and several NAPBS/BSAAP-accredited organizations to Community Brands' screening business; financial terms were not disclosed.

iSolved HCM agreed to acquire Sage Payroll Solutions, the U.S. payroll outsourcing business of The Sage Group Plc. The deal adds more than 44,000 payroll customers and expands iSolved's employer reach to roughly 145,000, accelerating iSolved's midmarket HCM growth while enabling Sage to divest a non-core unit as it focuses on its SaaS strategy.

Trustpoint.One, an Atlanta-based eDiscovery and legal solutions provider, acquired Kelly Legal Managed Services (KLMS) from the Kelly Services family of businesses. The acquisition expands Trustpoint.One's legal staffing, managed review and legal solutions capabilities and broadens its footprint in the legal talent and managed services market.

Addison Group has acquired Mondo, a national provider of technical and digital marketing staffing, from RLH Equity Partners. The deal expands Addison’s professional services and technical staffing capabilities, adding Mondo’s expertise in digital, CRM, business intelligence and IT talent to Addison’s portfolio.

Actief Werkt! has acquired Prima Personeel, a specialist temporary staffing agency focused on skilled trades. The deal expands Actief Werkt!'s national branch network and service offering, giving the combined group greater scale in the Dutch temporary staffing market; the transaction was subject to approval by the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).