Employment Plus under new ownership [Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.]

Oct. 25--The Bloomington-based staffing firm Employment Plus has a new owner after a year-and-a-half of searching.

EmployBridge, an Atlanta-headquartered company specializing in outsourced human resources and temporary staffing, purchased Employment Plus in a deal that closed Monday. EmployBridge operates several staffing brands such as ProLogistix and ProDrivers, and it will continue to run its newly added company under the Employment Plus name.

No layoffs are planned as a result of the acquisition, according to company leaders. Employment Plus is set to keep operating out of its existing Bloomington headquarters, where it employs just under 100 people.

Employment Plus CEO Mike Ross is remaining with the company on its executive team. He'll be an owner of the combined entity who will focus on boosting sales and continuing to grow Employment Plus.

Ross started looking to do a deal with another company about a year-and-a-half ago. At the time, Employment Plus was approaching $500 million in annual revenue generation, and Ross wanted to jump to over $1 billion in revenue, he said.

"I've spent the last 18 months looking around, getting to know a lot of companies to see what kind of strategic merger made sense," Ross said. "If I found the right company, we could get better and really put a strong stamp on the industry nationwide."

Employment Plus reported 2012 revenue of $345 million. Staffing Industry Analysts named the company the fastest-growing large staffing firm across all industry sectors between 2008 and 2012.

But the news wasn't all good in 2012 for Employment Plus. The company said in July of that year that it laid off about 14 percent of its workforce in an attempt to cut $5 million in operating expenses.

The Bloomington company blamed those cuts on rising unemployment insurance costs.

EmployBridge decided the company was a good investment in 2013, though. Its corporate leaders have had plenty of compliments for Bloomington after visiting the area, Ross said.

"For Bloomington, the jobs aren't going to be leaving," he said. "There's a good chance they could grow."

The two companies negotiated for about three months before signing the acquisition deal, according to EmployBridge President and CEO Tom Bickes.

"We have very little market overlap," he said. "We did not have much presence on our commercial side. We didn't have anything in Michigan. We didn't have anything in Indiana. We had a little bit in Ohio and we had a little in Kentucky. That's the lion's share of where Employment Plus is. We think that's a huge opportunity for us."

EmployBridge had 177 locations in 40 states before the acquisition. The deal gives it 235 branches and on-site locations. It projects revenue approaching $1 billion.

It will have approximately 1,200 full-time employees company wide. Every week, it will pay about 35,000 temporary workers.

EmployBridge is a holding company that primarily operates in the manufacturing, transportation and warehousing and logistics sectors.

Its main brands are ResourceMFG, ProDrivers and ProLogistix. The company is backed by Morgan Stanley equity.

Employment Plus was founded in 1993.

It provides staffing in offices and call centers, as well as in the transportation, health care and industrial and light manufacturing industries.

The Bloomington company used Chicago-based Ravinia Capital LLC as its corporate and transaction advisor.

___

(c)2013 the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.)

Visit the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.) at www.heraldtimesonline.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services