Springboard is delighted to announce that it has advised the shareholders of Ashley Kate HR on the disposal to the £70m turnover professional recruitment agency Nicholas Associates.
About the deal
Ashley Kate HR is a specialist recruitment business focused exclusively on the Human Resources market, providing generalist and specialist HR solutions at all levels to a blue chip client base requiring permanent, contract and temporary HR resource.
Founded in 2001, the business has grown consistently to become the pre-eminent brand in the HR recruitment market with a reputation for providing personal, professional and honest service with national reach from its head office in Nottingham.
The deal was led for Springboard by partner Simon Ward and Assistant Director James Bailey. Commenting on the deal, Simon said “Ashley Kate is an example to many owner managers about the power of the brand and the importance of succession planning when seeking to achieve a clean financial exit. The shareholders have grown a very successful business but have maintained a focus throughout the life cycle on value creation and developing a sustainable business model that will bode well for the future of Ashley Kate HR under Nicholas Associates’ stewardship. We wish all parties well for the future”
How we made a difference
- Identified and targeted a list of trade partners with strong strategic rationale for acquiring the business;
- Supported the shareholders through the process;
- Structured the deal to deliver a mix of up-front cash and guaranteed deferred consideration; and
- Project managed the deal through to completion.
Hilary Scanlon - Joint Managing Director, Ashley Kate HR
It's a great feeling knowing that we had a highly professional and experienced team of advisors supporting us throughout. It was invaluable having Springboard managing the whole process for us which enabled us to keep our focus on running our business. They are particularly diligent and remained 100% focused on keeping the deal fully on track and getting us to the end point.
