A Manchester-headquartered private equity firm, whose portfolio includes Gusto and The Alchemist, has acquired a majority stake in a life sciences recruitment agency.
Palatine Private Equity has backed Skills Alliance which has offices in London, Frankfurt, Zurich, New York, Seattle and Newport Beach.
The company was founded in 2004, has a team of 130 and comprises three business units: SA Executive, SA Staffing and SA Consulting. The business has an annual net fee income of £15m.
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Palatine’s investment team was Andy Strickland, Rupert Brown, and Carly Sinicrope with partner support from Tony Dickin.
Mr Strickland said: "Skills Alliance is a great business, and we are delighted to be working with Carl and the team to accelerate its strong growth even further.
"During the investment process it was clear that we share a number of common values with them. Their commitment to people and ESG, particularly around promoting diversity and inclusion internally and for their clients, really stood out.
"Our strategic growth plan includes continuing to expand the consulting offering – which offers an outsourced recruitment and on-boarding service of permanent and temporary staff - and accelerating their international roll-out particularly in North America and also in Europe.
"We will grow the team to support delivery and look at buy and build opportunities too."
Skills Alliance is Palatine's third transaction in the life science sector in the last 18 months. Its Impact Fund invested in tranScrip Partners in early 2021 and then completed the strategic acquisition of Real Regulatory for tranScrip this year.
Carl Marotta , CEO of Skills Alliance, added: "The Skills Alliance leadership team is proud to be partnering with Palatine, together creating an exciting next chapter for both the organisation, and our remarkable colleagues who have demonstrated how passion and dedication can produce exceptional results.
"Palatine has invested in our business during a period of sustained growth, having exhibited throughout the process both their end sector knowledge and ability to create additional value.
"It was clear from the outset that we share the same people and culture values, specifically focusing on ESG as a core pillar around which we shape our behaviours and business decisions.
"Our vision has always been clear, by providing the very highest level of service, we can create a truly special business offering progressive career opportunities for our employees, and a best-in-class workforce solutions proposition for our clients and candidates. We look forward to the future and building on the Skills Alliance brand."
Skills Alliance was previously owned by its management team and a private investor who has now exited.
Palatine was advised by Clearwater (corporate finance) and law firm Gateley. Financial due diligence was provided by Dow Schofield Watts, RSM provided tax advice, while Luth Associates provided operational due diligence. Fairgrove provided commercial due diligence and Panamoure provided IT diligence and Lockton insurance.
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