Staffing & HR Acquisitions in Massachusetts

Careerminds has acquired Keystone Partners, a Boston-based provider of outplacement, career management, executive coaching and leadership development services, from Silver Oak Services Partners. Silver Oak had owned Keystone since 2018 and supported the company through five add-on acquisitions and development of a proprietary technology platform to scale its talent solutions business.

Starfish Partners, an investment and ownership platform for specialized executive search firms, has acquired HireMinds, a Boston-based executive search firm founded in 1998 with expertise in marketing, communications, life sciences, and finance & accounting recruitment. The acquisition brings HireMinds into the Starfish Partners family to expand capabilities, geographic reach, and resources across high-growth sectors.

20/20 Foresight Executive Talent Solutions has acquired boutique retained search firm Winter Street Search to strengthen its financial services practice. As part of the deal, Winter Street co-founders Lisa DeConto and Scott Vierra join 20/20 Foresight as Co-Presidents of Asset & Wealth Management to deepen the firm's asset and wealth management recruiting capabilities.

Sprockets, an AI-driven hiring platform for hourly workers based in Charleston, South Carolina, has acquired Boston-based HourWork, an AI-powered recruitment and employee-retention platform. The deal adds HourWork’s hiring and engagement capabilities to Sprockets’ product suite to accelerate growth and improve outcomes for hourly employers.

Randstad Digital, the digital enablement arm of Randstad NV, has acquired Torc, an AI-powered talent marketplace that enrolls more than 25,000 digital professionals worldwide. The purchase expands Randstad Digital’s access to specialized digital talent (with emphasis in LATAM, the US and India) and accelerates its capabilities across cloud, data, digital engineering and customer experience delivery.

Kelly Services (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB) has completed the acquisition of Motion Recruitment Partners, LLC (MRP) from private equity firm Littlejohn & Co. for $425 million in cash plus up to $60 million of potential earnout. The deal expands Kelly's technology staffing, RPO/MSP, telecommunications, and government IT capabilities and is expected to accelerate revenue growth and EBITDA margin expansion.

New Mountain Capital has made a majority investment in ALKU, a specialty staffing firm, with existing investors FFL Partners, WestView Capital Partners, and ALKU management reinvesting alongside the new partner. The investment will support ALKU's accelerated growth plan as the firm targets more than $1 billion in revenue over the next few years and expand capabilities across life sciences, enterprise cloud, data science and cybersecurity.

Talent Group, a national IT staffing firm backed by Osceola Capital, has acquired Queen Consulting Group, a Boston-based IT staffing and consulting firm specializing in healthcare and pharmaceutical IT and Epic EMR implementations. The deal brings Queen's leadership team into Talent Group and expands Talent Group's healthcare IT staffing capabilities and delivery scale.

ZRG, a global talent advisory firm backed by RFE Investment Partners, has acquired Hub Recruiting, a boutique RPO (Recruiting Process Outsourcing) firm based in Bedford, Massachusetts. The acquisition expands ZRG's capabilities in embedded recruiting and volume hiring for technology-focused clients, integrating Hub's Full Stack RPO offering into ZRG's talent advisory and data-driven recruiting services.

DeWinter Group, a Silicon Valley-based staffing and recruitment firm backed by New Heritage Capital, has acquired Syrinx Consulting, a Greater Boston provider of high-end software development and technology staffing. The acquisition strengthens DeWinter's Maris Consulting Group, adds software development skillsets, and expands the combined firm's East Coast reach.

Tandym Group has acquired Boston-based Longford & Company, a technology consulting and executive search firm serving the life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors. The deal expands Tandym's technology vertical (Tandym Tech) and broadens its capabilities and client reach nationally; Tandym is backed by Mill Rock Capital.

Tenex Capital Management completed an investment in Black Diamond Networks, a specialized professional staffing firm focused on life sciences and engineering/technology talent. Northstar Capital provided junior capital (debt and an equity co-investment) to help finance the transaction, which was effective November 30, 2021.

Vaco, a global talent solutions firm, has acquired Bay State Search, a Boston-based talent acquisition and outsourcing firm founded in 2013. The acquisition expands Vaco's presence into the Boston market and strengthens its consulting, contract and direct-hire capabilities across accounting & finance, technology and operations.

An affiliate of H.I.G. Capital has completed the acquisition of Oxford Global Resources, LLC, a specialty staffing and consulting firm headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, from ASGN Incorporated. The transaction (announced July 2021 and completed August 2021) was valued at approximately $525 million and positions H.I.G. to accelerate Oxford's growth across life sciences, IT, engineering and healthcare staffing markets.

OutSolve, a leading affirmative action compliance consulting firm based in Metairie, Louisiana, has acquired Massachusetts-based Gaucher Associates, a national human resources consulting firm specializing in affirmative action customization. The acquisition expands OutSolve's capabilities and talent pool to better serve federal contractors and accelerates the company's growth in the affirmative action / EEO compliance market.

Circa (Infosoft Group LLC), a portfolio company of Gauge Capital, has acquired America's Job Exchange (AJE), a provider of OFCCP compliance and diversity recruitment technology based in Andover, Massachusetts. Brookside Mezzanine Partners provided subordinated debt and an equity co-investment to support the transaction, which expands Circa’s federal contractor compliance and diversity recruitment capabilities.

Globalization Partners Inc. closed a $150 million minority equity investment led by funds managed by Wincove Private Holdings and TDR Capital, with participation from Sands Capital. The capital will be used to accelerate the company’s growth — including investments in client services, technology development, sales, and global expansion of its employer-of-record platform.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. acquired Phillips, DiPisa & Associates, Inc. (PDA) and Leaders For Today, LLC (LFT) for a base purchase price of $30 million plus up to $7 million in potential earnouts. The two sister firms, which provide executive search and interim leadership staffing to healthcare delivery organizations, expand AMN’s leadership placement and interim management capabilities across hospital systems and academic medical centers.

Funds managed by Stone Point Capital have acquired Eliassen Group, a Reading, Massachusetts–based strategic consulting and talent solutions firm focused on IT staffing, Agile consulting, managed services and life sciences. The transaction transfers Eliassen Group from former sponsor Riverside Partners to Stone Point, which plans to support the company’s continued national growth and expansion.