Recruitment firm Berkley Group sold to director and new investors for undisclosed sum

IRISH recruitment firm Berkley Group has been sold for an undisclosed sum to a member of management and a number of new investors.

Berkley director Paddy O’Connell and three others — Arthur Griffin, John Kennefick and John Fitzpatrick — have bought the business from UK-based Rethink Group, with financial support coming from another UK company, Capital Step. The buyers were advised by Mazars Corporate Finance. Berkley was sold to recruitment business Rethink in a deal reported to be worth a potential €6.7m in 2011.

“We have ambitious plans to grow the business up to €50m turnover within three years and double our contractor base within that period as well,” O’Connell told the Sunday Independent.

The business currently has an annual turnover of around €14m. “We’re looking to double the workforce at our Cork office and have secured new office space, which we will be moving into in late Q3,” O’Connell added.

“We are going to have a renewed focus in the Dublin market and also within the next 18 months we’re looking to internationalise the business. “I’ve been with the organisation for the best part of 15 years and I’ve been very much driving the business in my current role as director for the last two years. What’s particularly exciting is the executive team who have bought into the organisation, they bring with them a wealth of experience within the professional services and consulting space,” O’Connell said.

“That would be one key area that we’d be looking to build out over the coming months.”

Berkley Group specialises in the information-technology, life-sciences and engineering sectors. O’Connell said that the area of cybersecurity was seeing rapid growth. “Within IT, we have seen huge growth in the demand for security professionals within the market,” he said.

“The whole area of 3D printing is an exciting development, which is having a major impact on the medical device industry.”