Member Article

Leeds-based tech recruitment firm Lorien acquired for £30 million

Leeds-based Lorien Ltd, a technology staffing firm, has been acquired for £29.9 million by Luton-based Impellam Group plc.

The acquisition is for an initial consideration of £22.3 million in cash and £7.5 million in new ordinary shares in the Company at a price of 460p.

Impellam will assume Lorien’s net debt of £14 million and pay an additional deferred consideration of up to £6 million in January 2015 and up to £13.9 million in January 2016, dependent on the EBITDA performance of Lorien during these two earn-out periods.

The acquisition will be financed by a new five-year loan of £15 million with Barclays Bank plc. The company has also extended its current invoice discounting facility with Barclays from £80 million to £120 million.

Lorien was founded in 1977 and is the largest independent specialist IT recruitment business in the UK, with offices in London, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh.

It operates under the Lorien Resourcing and Vertical IT brands, through which it provides outsourced recruitment services and specialist staffing expertise to more than 400 customers.

For the 12 months to 31 January 2015, Lorien is expected to achieve an adjusted EBITDA of £8.7m (2014 audited, adjusted: £6.4 million) and turnover of £330 million (2014 audited: £295 million).

Julia Robertson, CEO of Impellam Group plc, commented: “The acquisition of Lorien is a significant step for Impellam and makes us the second largest staffing company in the UK.

“It has long been our ambition to develop a substantial presence in IT staffing and I am delighted that Lorien, as a market leader in UK technology staffing, is now part of the Group.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .