The Greythorn group of companies was bought in a buy-in management buy-out, led by Graham Palfery-Smith, ex-CEO of HW Group plc. Greythorn, which operates in three continents, North America, Europe and Australia, specialises predominately in IT recruitment services.
The private equity backers are Englefield Capital, which has in excess of AUS $1Billion in managed assets, in fast growing middle market businesses. Commenting on the acquisition, Adam Barron, Principal Investor, Englefield, feels Greythorn ìhas enormous brand equity in the IT recruitment space in the core markets of North America, Europe and Australia ìand is a ìgood strategic fitî for Englefieldís foray into the growing global human capital services market.
Graham Palfery-Smith to be the new Global CEO Peter Mackley, who founded Greythorn in 1976 in London, will step down from his current role of global Chairman to ìpursue other interestsî outside the recruitment industry. Graham Palfery-Smith, a recruitment industry veteran of 25 years, will head the new Greythorn entity as global CEO. Whilst pleased with Greythornís current market standing in Europe, North America and Australia he is particularly excited about the future prospects of the group. He further commented, ìthe combination of existing talent, solid financial backing and a growing global offering makes Greythorn a very attractive and rewarding proposition. We are ambitious to build a truly great businessî.
Greythorn primed for further expansion
According to Graham, a major strategic shift for Greythorn will be its ìaggressive growth strategyî. Whilst in the past Greythorn grew organically, future growth will be pursued though a mixture of acquisitions, investment in new services and entry into new markets. The company is hiring in all countries and expects to open a San Francisco office shortly. The company is also in discussions with a small number of high quality recruitment businesses with a view to expanding the groupís
presence in certain key vertical markets and geographical territories.
Diversification outside Greythornís core IT recruitment business is not off the radar either and according to Graham ìwe will consider all options on meritî and in ìthe framework of growthî. The immediate focus, however, will centre on ìleveraging expertise among the different global offices and development of new internal capabilitiesî. Graham will initially be based out of the Greythorn
London office.
Little Change to Greythornís Australian Operations
According to Chris Digby, CEO Australia, ìthere will be little immediate change to the Australian operations other than aligning the local business to fit the strategic framework of growthî pursued on a global scale. Chris believes ìthere will be more cross border interaction and co-operationî and attempts will be made to ìleverage resources like technology, marketing and shared servicesî
across all global offices.
In Australia, all current staff will be retained and there will be no disruption in service delivery to clients and candidates. Over approximately the last two financial years, Greythornís Australian operation has doubled its revenue and is poised for further growth.
Change in ownership and direction of Greythorn
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