Japanese staffing company Temp Holdings, Co. Ltd. has agreed to buy rival Intelligence Holdings Ltd. from private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P (KKR) for an enterprise value of 68 billion yen or $716 million, Temp Holdings and KKR said late Monday. Enterprise value is calculated as equity value plus net debt.
The deal is part of Temp Holdings' efforts to bolster its own advertising and recruiting businesses in Japan and Asia, including providing assistance to those seeking to switch jobs.
Under the deal, Temp Holdings, the second-largest staffing company in Japan, will acquire all the outstanding shares of Intelligence Holdings KKR as well as the management and employees of Intelligence Holdings. The deal represents an equity value of about 51 billion yen or $537 million.
The share transfer transaction, subject to customary closing conditions and approval by the Japan Fair Trade Committee, is expected to be completed in late April 2013 or on a date to be agreed by Temp Holdings and KKR.
Intelligence Holdings is the sixth-largest Japanese staffing company, operating multiple business lines. These include permanent job placement services under the "Doda" brand, online and classified job advertisement services under the "an" brand, temporary staffing services as well as IT and business process outsourcing services. Intelligence was established in 1989. Formerly a subsidiary of Usen Corp., the company was acquired by KKR in July 2010.
Tempstaff Co. Ltd. was established in 1973 and has developed into an integrated HR services provider supporting contingent labor, placement, outsourcing and outplacement support. The group holding company Temp Holdings Co., Ltd. was established in October 2008 and listed on the 1st Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Ms. Yoshiko Shinohara, Chairman, President and Representative Director of Temp Holdings, said, "We believe labor flexibility and mobility will be an important part of improving the competitiveness of Japanese companies and through this partnership we aim to support our customers' sustained growth by stimulating inter-industry labor mobility, provide stable employment opportunities to jobseekers, and thereby contribute to job creation and better serve our customers."
During its three-year partnership with KKR, Intelligence grew its revenues by 45 percent, EBITDA by 170 percent and operating profit by 431 percent. The total number of employees at Intelligence increased 37 percent to 5,981 from 4,370.
Temp Holdings noted that its combination with Intelligence can meet evolving market needs as well as provide companies and job-seekers with a comprehensive range of high-quality HR services. The combined company will have revenues of more than 320 billion yen or $3.37 billion, EBITDA of more than 21 billion yen or $220 million, and employ more than 10,000 people.
The market for HR services in Japan has grown significantly over the last twenty-five years as traditional employment patterns evolved and developed, and as companies restructure and expand globally. At the same time, the number of people changing jobs has steadily increased as jobseekers' awareness of opportunities expand and their career planning needs diversify. These changes have led to growing demand for a wide range of professional HR services, which Temp Holdings and Intelligence hope to be able to meet.
KKR closed Monday's trading at $18.31, down $0.31 or 1.66 percent on a volume of 2.47 million shares.
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