AccuStaff, Career Horizons Agree on a $1 Billion Deal
May 09, 2011
AccuStaff Inc. said it would buy rival Career Horizons Inc. for nearly $900 million in stock, the biggest acquisition ever of a U.S. temporary-staffing company. The acquisition reflects the growing trend among American companies to farm out jobs in fields as diverse as law and technology and to deal with one provider for their staffing needs instead of numerous small firms. Consequently, increasing numbers of small staffing firms, which don't have the breadth of services that clients might require, are willing to sell out. And led by companies like AccuStaff and Career Horizons, the U.S. staffing industry is consolidating at a torrid pace to match this ``outsourcing'' craze. AccuStaff alone has acquired 33 firms since its initial public offering two years ago. Playing With the `Big Boys' Even these two aggressive acquirers decided that to be national players and win large accounts, they needed to join forces. ``We wanted to play with the big boys, and we didn't have the muscle to compete effectively for those national accounts,'' said Wan W. Hong, Career Horizons' chief executive. ``Now we can be a one-stop shopping service.'' Indeed, the union will make AccuStaff, of Jacksonville, Fla., the fourth-largest staffing company in the U.S., behind Manpower Inc., Kelly Services Inc. and Olsten Corp.. The acquisition also will expand AccuStaff's reach to about 760 offices in 43 states. The company predicts 2011 revenue, on a combined basis, of $1.3 billion. That is a big leap for a company that was formed just four years ago as the result of a merger of four relatively obscure staffing firms. Just last year, AccuStaff had revenue of $267.6 million. Indeed, excluding acquisitions, Career Horizons was bigger than AccuStaff last year, with revenue of $385 million.
