Product category:
Recruitment and Career Development
News Release from: NES Group
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 06 September 2006
MBO at technical recruitment business
NES
Graphite Capital, the leading UK mid-market private equity specialist, is backing the GBP86 million management buy-out of the NES Group technical recruitment business from its founders
Graphite Capital, the leading UK mid-market private equity specialist, is backing the GBP86 million management buy-out of the NES Group from its founders, Geoff Lloyd and Bryan Sullivan, along with Bridgepoint, the private equity group NES is a fast growing global technical recruitment business providing professionally qualified contract staff to blue chip clients across the world in the oil and gas, infrastructure, rail and power sectors
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 7 Jul 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
NES Online breaks through the 1,000 barrier
All UK and overseas NES offices now advertise their vacancies through one centralised database system, onto the website, ensuring that every current epmployment vacancy is available to view online
Innovations in on-line recruitment
Specialist technical and engineering recruitment company NES has been short-listed as a finalist in the 'Onrec' awards for 2006, for their innovations in on-line recruitment
It also has an IT staffing and accredited training operation in the UK.
NES was founded in 1978.
Bridgepoint backed a GBP32 million buyout in May 1999.
Further reading
Overseas candidate search and recruitment
NES hopes to address the UK skills shortage in technical and engineering industries by appointing on overseas applicants co-ordinator, to make locating and hiring overseas candidates straightforward
NES provides advice on skills shortages
NES will help to address the widely debated skills shortage within the industries it supports as a Level 1 adviser with the Office of Immigration Services Commissioner
Rules for Highly Skilled Migrants
NES has competently managed the opposing responses to the changes that were made to the UK Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) criteria in December 2006
The company has developed into a well diversified business in terms of customers, geography and sector.
With headquarters in Manchester, NES operates from 14 offices - seven in the UK and the rest in the US, the Middle East and South-East Asia.
The company has nearly 2,400 contractors, spread throughout 40 countries.
They work on large, long-term projects overseas such as the Dubai Metro, the Kashagan offshore oil project in Kazakhstan and the Nanhai petrochemicals complex in China.
NES clients include a number of major multinational companies including Shell, Alstom Power and Obayashi, as well as UK government departments and other public bodies.
NES chief executive Neil Tregarthen is leading the highly experienced buy-out team, which includes Mark Tully, managing director and Philip Lanigan, finance director of the UK operations.
The non-executive chairman will be Stephen Ross, formerly of 3i and ex-founder of Springboard plc, a Graphite-backed business.
The growth of NES has accelerated since Tregarthen joined the business two years ago.
Since then, profits and net fee income (a key indicator for recruitment companies) have shown compound growth of an expected 33 per cent and 47 per cent per annum respectively in the year to October 2006.
Turnover is anticipated to show a 16 per cent increase to GBP177 million.
All of the markets in which the group operates are expected to expand.
The increase in the price of oil has already stimulated long term projects in upstream oil and gas activity.
The International Energy Agency forecasts investment of some US$8 trillion to meet the energy needs of developing and middle income countries in the next 25 years.
At the same time, UN-sponsored initiatives on clean drinking water and reconstruction and development projects will drive growth in the infrastructure market globally.
In the UK, both Network Rail and London Underground have substantial five year investment programmes spurred, in part, by the 2012 Olympics.
Tregarthen says: "We were impressed by the Graphite record in the recruitment sector: with its support, we foresee substantial organic growth in all our key markets.
Nearly half our contractors are already working on assignments of nine months or more and we plan to increase that percentage along with the proportion of permanent placements.
We are also looking to expand the number of overseas offices, leverage our relationships with existing clients and develop further our accredited training programmes".
Graphite senior partner David Williams adds: "The UK is a global leader in the recruitment industry and NES is a well-managed, world class business.
Graphite has already successfully backed several companies in the sector including Huntress, Aktrion and, most recently, TMP Worldwide.
We have known Neil Tregarthen for some time and have been impressed both by his achievements and by the growth potential of NES".
Graphite will have a majority holding in the company.
Alongside its equity investment, Graphite has arranged a debt and bank financing package from Royal Bank of Scotland.
David Williams, Mike Tilbury and John O'Neill managed the transaction for Graphite and David Caunce and Phil Mason for Royal Bank of Scotland.
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