Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS), a talent acquisition and management business and a portfolio company of Graphite Capital, has signed an agreement to be acquired by New Mountain Capital at an enterprise value of £260 million. The transaction provides Graphite with a total return of 3.5 times its initial investment.
The management team of AMS is investing alongside New Mountain in this transaction. AMS founder Rosaleen Blair will remain as CEO of the company.
“This is an exciting day for the Alexander Mann Solutions team. New Mountain shares our conviction that human capital defines the ethos, culture and performance of business in the 21st century,” said Ms. Blair. “Our team chose New Mountain as our new partner because of their strong experience in the human resources services sector and commitment to business building.”
AMS is a provider of talent acquisition and management services to multinational customers. AMS’ services cover the outsourcing of recruitment at all levels including hiring, staff induction, career management and redundancy. The company has long-term contracts with a range of international blue-chip customers, including Vodafone, Microsoft, Siemens, Barclays, Rolls Royce, GE and Citi Group. AMS is headquartered in London and operates low-cost service centers in Poland and the Philippines (www.alexandermannsolutions.com).
In December 2007 Graphite Capital led the £100 million management buy-out of AMS. In March 2008 Graphite backed AMS in acquiring Capital Consulting, the UK’s second largest recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider. AMS has grown revenues and profit significantly under Graphite’s ownership.
Graphite Capital invests in middle market leveraged buyouts with valuations up to £200 million. The firm is currently investing Graphite Capital Partners VIII with £475 million in capital, and a co-investment fund with capital of £110 million. Graphite Capital is headquartered in London (www.graphitecapital.com).
Senior partners Mike Tilbury and Simon Ffitch, together with partners Jenny Michelman and Mudassir Khan, managed the transaction for Graphite. Robert W. Baird advised Graphite on the sale.
New Mountain Capital currently manages private and public equity funds with over $10 billion in aggregate capital commitments. New Mountain’s third private equity fund, New Mountain Partners III, with over $5.1 billion of aggregate commitments was raised in 2007 and the firm continues to deploy that capital. New Mountain was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in New York (www.newmountaincapital.com).
“We are firm believers in the critical importance of talent management and believe Alexander Mann Solutions’ success is evidence of the industry-defining solution Rosaleen and her team have built. We believe in the strategy Alexander Mann Solutions has developed and are pleased to be investing alongside management to pursue a focused growth path,” said Mathew Lori, Managing Director at New Mountain Capital. “We look forward to working closely with Rosaleen and her international team over the coming years and believe that through our partnership, Alexander Mann Solutions will not only continue to expand its services to clients, but will also create even more exciting career opportunities for many of their own team of professionals.”
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 10-31-13