Why is Peoplebank seeking to acquire Ross Human Directions?

By Peter Acheson, CEO, Peoplebank
July 20th 2010

As you probably know, Peoplebank yesterday lodged a scheme of arrangement offer with the ASX to acquire Ross Human Directions (RHD).

If successful, we would become Australia’s largest white collar recruitment company with revenues of over $800m, 600 employees and offices across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Combining Peoplebank’s IT specialisation with RHD’s strengths in financial services, accounting, legal, HR and other sectors would mean that we can operate across a broader market.

This, combined with more service offerings would generate significant benefits for our clients, contractors and candidates.

But I think one of the real benefits of this acquisition would be the ‘joining forces’ of staff at both companies. Like Peoplebank, RHD significantly out-performed the broader recruitment market during the GFC, by being passionate about people.

Similarly, Peoplebank has prospered by providing extraordinary service levels. As we say in the Peoplebank Promise – our commitment to staff and customers, which was formally launched last year - everything we do is passionately directed at delighting customers.

One thing that I’d like you all to know is that a key part of the Peoplebank Promise is our pledge to staff that we’re committed to being responsive, creating a spirit of teamwork and working to help all our team members deliver results that are above client expectations.

Since discussions commenced with RHD about this potential acquisition, I’ve been struck by how closely RHD’s approach aligns with Peoplebank’s.

If this acquisition is successful, I think that together, we have real potential to be the best recruitment company in Asia Pacific and beyond – and the no. 1 choice for our employees, clients and candidates.

While in the short term, I expect that it would be ‘business as usual’ for staff and clients of both organisations, I believe in the longer term, the combined entity would set a dynamic benchmark, as well as becoming the recruiter of choice for Australian and many international businesses.

It’s an exciting prospect – and I look forward to sharing news of it with you over the coming months.