We analyse the buying a company in the recruitment sector in 2018. We are going to focus in part on companies that run their identification processes for jobs in the technology sector, such as technicians or programmers.

Novabase Capital joins CBTalents

Novabase Capital (Lisbon, Portugal) has formalised on 26 November 2018 the acquisition of a stake of 13% from Cross Border talents (CBTalents). The Portuguese company has carried out the transaction through the venture capital fund Novabase Capital + Inovação (FCR+I) for an unknown amount.

Founded in 2013, CBT is a company that specialises in the recruitment of engineers, programmers and multilingual agents. It operates in the European market, where it has clients in 17 countries, and assists companies seeking skills due to strong global demand. It has 20 employees in Lisbon, Porto, Évora, London and Berlin, along with more than 100 remote recruiters.

"This partnership will leverage CBT's growth by enabling it to offer new solutions to its international customers in the area of outsourcing, capacity and nearshore services," says Ricardo Nobre, CEO and founder of CBT.

The transaction will strengthen Novabase's portfolio, which, since 1993, has backed dozens of high-potential entrepreneurial projects. In 2017, for example, Novabase's investment portfolio turned over 45 million euros. "We are making this investment because changes in the labour market will force us to reinvent the way we find talent and retain it for the long term, especially in the IT sector," says Novabase director Maria Gil.

Openjobmetis acquires Meritocracy

Since mid-year, Meritocracy has become part of the Openjobmetis Spa. The agreement was part of a collaboration that Openjobmetis started 2 years ago with Mind the Bridgean organisation that provides innovation consultancy for corporations and startups. Mind the Bridge supported Openjobmetis in structuring a new unit called "Open Innovation" with the aim of fostering innovation within the company and finding new opportunities with companies. Meritocracy was explored by Openjobmetis in 2016, during the first Innovation Boot Camp and interactions continued until this year.

Meritocracy was founded in 2014 with the mission of offer young professionals a place to find jobs in the future. Interestingly, Meritocracy allows candidates to obtain information from employers through relevant content such as photos or video interviews. It then uses technology to identify the best job opportunities to reach their potential.

Openjobmetis SpA, on the other hand, is a private employment agency created in 2011 through the merger of Openjob SpA and Metis SpA, bringing together the know-how and unique experience that has distinguished them for over 17 years. Since December 2015, Openjobmetis has been the first and only private employment agency listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, in the STAR segment, and is one of the leading Italian operators in its field, with revenues of approximately €584 million in 2017.

It has a network of more than 130 branches throughout Italy, specialising in the following areas: health, industry, banking and finance, retail, ICT, hospitality, family care, agribusiness, diversity of talents and naval personnel. The range of services is completed by the subsidiary Seltis Srlwhich focuses on the recruitment and selection of middle and senior executives.

In December 2015, CRIBIS D&B awarded the CRIBIS D&B 1 rating to Openjobmetis, recognising the company with. the highest level of economic and financial reliability. In 2017 and 2018, it has further improved the rating, awarding it the title of CRIBIS Prime Company, which is a sign of the high level of solvency and economic and financial soundness of the company.

Anderselite Ltd becomes part of the Morson Group

On 26 July 2018, we learned of the purchase of the Morson Group on Anderselite. Both are active in the field of recruitment, but neither has made the full amount of the transaction official. Under the terms of the deal, Anderselite will become a wholly-owned subsidiary within the Morson GroupThe company maintains its own brand and contracts while working with other companies in the group.

Morson is the UK's leading technical recruitment and engineering design and project management company. It has a global presence across all engineering markets, including rail, aerospace defence, energy, infrastructure, IT and oil and gas. It has over 40 offices worldwide and is headquartered in Manchester, UK.

Ged Mason, CEO of Morson Group, commented: "Anderselite has an extremely strong brand in the UK and has built up specific expertise in the maintenance, rail and construction markets. The addition of Anderselite to our portfolio means we are well positioned to cater for the expected future growth in these sectors while consolidating our leading position in the rail market."

Anderselite Ltd (Southampton), on the other hand, is a specialist for more than 30 years in the provision of recruitment services for the construction, civil engineering, facilities management and rail sectors. This past year it had revenues of $44.7 million. It was previously part of US staffing firm CDI Corp, a Philadelphia-based engineering and IT staffing provider, but completed a management buyout in 2016.