RPO firm AMS acquired for £260m by New York investment firm

Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and talent management firm Alexander Mann Solutions is to be acquired by New York private equity investor New Mountain Capital for £260m.
Thu, 31 Oct 2013Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and talent management firm Alexander Mann Solutions is to be acquired by New York private equity investor New Mountain Capital for £260m.

Its acquisition from current backers, UK equity firm Graphite Capital, is subject to EU Competition Commission approval, which an AMS spokesperson tells recruiter.co.uk should formally conclude by January 2014.

AMS founder and chief executive officer Rosaleen Blair (pictured below) will remain in the role, supported by her management team, and comments: “With New Mountain beside us, we look forward to extending our global footprint, particularly in North America.”

The company now has the UK's largest sourcing function, employs almost 2,000 staff globally and operates in over 75 countries. In 2012 it near doubled its profit after taxation, and says it has nearly doubled in size since 2007, when it was supported in a management buy-out by Graphite in a £100m deal.

Twelve months ago, Graphite told Recruiter magazine it was “not under any pressure” to exit the business, although admitted that it generally expected to exit businesses around five years after acquiring.

David Silver, head of European investment banking at Robert W Baird, the investment bank which advised previous owners Advent on the 2007 deal, says that the sale of a firm of AMS’s with UK headquarters to a private equity firm without European operations “is relatively rare” and highlights “the strength of the appetite of the global private equity market”.

“M&A is becoming ever more cross border in nature, both for private equity and trade buyers,” he tells recruiter.co.uk.

He adds that AMS’s “great potential in North America”, as well as New Mountain Capital’s experience within human capital, are keys to why this deal has been across national borders. New Mountain Capital managing director Bal Dail was previously the joint CEO of HR and consulting giant Aon Hewitt.

AMS opened a major office in Cleveland in September 2012, where it said it would take on 300 staff. Multinational clients in North America include Credit Suisse, Nike and Rolls-Royce.

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