First Meridian, an HR investment platform of private equity firm Samara Capital, Goldman Sachs and Janchor Partners, has made its first acquisitions of staffing firms Innovsource Services and V5 Global Services for an undisclosed amount, Manish Mehta, managing director of the PE company, told VCCircle,
“The platform will leverage technology for scaling up,” said Mehta of the mid-market PE firm. “First Meridian will do a series of further minority investments/buyouts in areas such as HR technology, staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, compliance management and managed services,” he said.
Sudhakar Balakrishnan, former managing director and chief executive of Adecco India, is coming in as a co-investor in this platform and will lead First Meridian, Mehta added. The other members of the senior management team will also invest in the platform alongside institutional investors, he said.
The acquisition deal is worth Rs 350 crore ($50.8 million), The Economic Times reported. The platform may go for a third acquisition soon, said unnamed persons in the report.
Acquisitions
Incorporated in 2004, Mumbai-based Innovsource Pvt. Ltd is a manpower outsourcing company. It is one of the leading temporary staffing companies in India, with a headcount of 55,000 associates. The company has a presence across 30 plus cities, and caters to clients in retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), logistics, and more.
The acquisition provides First Meridian with a strong base and a national footprint in the staffing industry, Mehta said. Innovsource’s net sales stood at Rs 870.3 crore and profit after tax Rs 23.9 crore for the year through March 2016. For the previous year, net sales stood at Rs 743 crore and profit after tax at Rs 16.4 crore.
New Delhi-based V5 Global Services Pvt. Ltd was established in 2005. It provides staffing solutions. The company registered net sales of Rs 187.9 crore and profit after tax of Rs 5 crore for the year through March 2016. For the previous year, net sales stood at Rs 143.7 crore and profit after tax at Rs 2.7 crore. Results have been sourced from VCCEdge, the data research platform of News Corp VCCircle.
Investors
Samara Capital was founded in late 2006 by former top Citigroup India executives Sumeet Narang and Gautam Gode.
Last month, The Economic Times reported that Samara Capital is looking to float a $550 million fund by the end of 2018.
Samara is currently investing out of its second fund. The PE firm had raised $263 million for its first fund and $300 million for its second fund.
Janchor Partners is a Hong Kong-based long-term investor in both private and listed Asian companies.
Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment bank.
