Souter Investments has joined a syndicate led by FL Partners, a Dublin-based investment boutique, that has acquired Potensis Recruitment, one of the largest recruiters to the UK housebuilding and construction industries, together with SEAL Resource Management, a related business.
Potensis, founded in 2000, provides temporary and permanent recruitment services to the residential housebuilding, social housing and commercial construction sectors. It recruits across all job levels and its clients include many of the UK’s leading publicly-listed housebuilders as well as social housing groups. Most of its clients have worked with Potensis for at least a decade.
Jared Sullivan, founder and managing director, has invested alongside FL. Steven Kirkpatrick has been recruited as CEO of the Group and is also investing in the deal. Steven has worked in recruitment for 20 years and was formerly CEO of Cordant Recruitment and, before that, managing director of Adecco’s UK general staffing businesses.
The need for housing in the UK remains acute and Potensis will seek to extend its existing strong positions in the London and the South East residential and social housing markets more broadly throughout the UK and internationally.
Souter was advised by Dickson Minto and FL was advised on the deal by Deloitte and White & Case.
Sir Brian Souter said: “The combination of a high quality business, an outstanding CEO and supportive financial investors such as ourselves and FL Partners is an attractive one, which we are delighted to be investing in”.
Peter Crowley and Neill Hughes, founders and managing partners at FL Partners said: “We are very excited about Potensis. There is huge demand for housing in the UK which is likely to continue in the medium term. Human capital is critically important and Potensis helps its clients get the right people for this strategically-important and rapidly-evolving market.
“Over the last 16 years, Potensis has grown into a strong business with a loyal client base and a leading specialist offering. The transfer to new ownership under a new management team will position the company to deliver on its growth plans.”
About Souter Investments
Souter Investments is the family investment office of Sir Brian Souter, co-founder and Chairman of Stagecoach Group plc. It makes investments across a broad range of asset classes, with a primary focus on private equity.
Souter Investments has over 30 direct investments in its portfolio, across a range of sectors, with recent deals including Clive Christian, Ardent Hire, Ashtead Technology, Baywater Healthcare, Avalon and First Scottish. For more information about Souter Investments and our portfolio, please visit www.souterinvestments.com.
About FL Partners
FL is a Dublin-based investment boutique which has successfully invested behind and subsequently exited from a number of UK and Irish businesses including ATA Group, UTV Media plc, the Racing Post and Sunseeker; FL continues to manage a diverse portfolio of private equity investments.