Inside the Deal: Motion Sale to Kelly
A Potential Catalyst for Renewed Activity in the IT Staffing M&A Market
Baird served as exclusive financial advisor to Motion Recruitment Partners (“Motion” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of Littlejohn & Co., on its recent sale to Kelly Services, Inc. (“Kelly”) (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB). Motion is a leading global talent solutions provider specializing in high-end IT Staffing & Recruiting Services.
As a leading advisor in the Human Capital Management sector, Baird’s experience and expertise in Talent Acquisition positioned our team to successfully advise Motion in this transaction. Read more in this latest Inside the Deal.
What makes Motion’s business so unique?
- Scale / Scarcity: One of the largest, privately owned leaders in the IT staffing market with over a 30-year history
- Breadth of Offering / IT Focus: Motion offers a comprehensive set of capabilities serving clients spanning from start-ups to enterprise, delivering staffing, direct hire, consulting managed services and outsourced recruiting
- Specialization: Motion’s unique approach to specialization across cutting edge technology disciplines allows the Company to access and deliver scarce, highly sought-after technical talent to clients operating in highly attractive end markets
Why was the transaction successful?
- Step-Change in IT Staffing Scale: Motion’s technology staffing and consulting business will significantly expand Kelly’s IT staffing delivery platform and establish the combined business as a top ten provider of tech talent solutions in the U.S.;
- Includes Market Leading RPO: Sevenstep, Motion’s recruitment process outsourcing offering, will bring an industry leading brand and highly attractive client base in both RPO and MSP to elevate KellyOCG’s RPO segment to consistently rank in the top five globally;
- Establish Dominant Position – Telecom Staffing: Motion’s telecom practice will add a complementary client portfolio and set of delivery capabilities to Kelly’s existing telecommunications specialty to further enhance a market-leading telecommunications offering; and
- Valuable New Capabilities – Government Tech Staffing: TG Federal, Motion’s government technology business, will bring a dedicated new platform in government technology subcontracting with strong partnerships to build upon Kelly’s success in the government space
Does this transaction indicate that the M&A market is back for IT staffing?
- Leading Indicator – Market Stabilizing: This combination should be a leading indicator that the market for IT staffing acquisitions is returning as client demand in the contingent labor market slowly returns
- Leading Indicator – Strategic Buyer Assertiveness: It is common to see large strategic players lead a recovery in acquisition activity as they look to supplement slower organic growth, utilize strong balance sheets, leverage knowledge of and experience in a sector and capitalize on seeing through near-term performance uncertainty given long-term investment horizon
