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Cape Town – JSE-listed Adcorp holdings [JSE:ADR] has announced its acquisition of specialist oil and gas workforce recruiter, Dare Holdings, for an estimated A$30m (about R280m), as it seeks to expand into Africa.
“The acquisition represents an important and exciting opportunity for the Adcorp Group,” said Adcorp CEO, Richard Pike.
“Dare is extremely well positioned in the Australian market, has exposure to a fundamental industry sector of the Australian economy, has a well-established and experienced management team, long standing global customer relationships, a stable track record of financial growth and strong cash generative characteristics,” has said.
Adcorp is Africa’s largest workforce management group and also has extensive operations in Australia.
Dare was established in 1988 by the vendor and managing director, Christopher Hicks. The business is a provider of qualified and experienced engineering and technical skills on a contract and permanent basis to local and international clients in the oil and gas sector, based in Perth and focusing primarily on the Western Australia market.
Expansion
The acquisition is to be funded out of increased debt facilities extended by the Group’s Asia Pacific Banking partners, Westpac Banking Corporation, as well as by the Group’s existing and future cash flows generated in Australia.
Pike said that, “the acquisition provides a strong platform for expansion of Dare into both Asia and Africa on the back of its established global customer relationships as well as in collaboration with Adcorp’s existing African operations and recently established Asian presence”.
“There are also opportunities to expand the business to the Australian East Coast market as well as into the blue collar oil and gas skills space in conjunction with another of Adcorp’s existing Australian businesses, Labour Solutions Australia (LSA).”
According to Pike “Adcorp’s acquisition strategy is to buy successful businesses with entrenched management teams and to perpetuate and build on those successes".
"Dare will be no exception. As such, it is not our intention to make sweeping changes to the business or to tamper with the success formula of the past.
“Rather, the emphasis is on offering Dare scale advantage, specialised know-how where appropriate and the opportunity to cross-sell and tap into a larger client base.”
