CPL bosses to make €113m from sale

Recruitment company has been bought out by Japanese HR group

CPL Resources CEO Anne Heraty. File picture. 

Two directors of the Irish recruitment company hired by the HSE to source emergency health workers to cope with the Covid-19 burden stand to make nearly €113m from the sale of the business to a Japanese human resources group.

The board of CPL Resources has agreed to be bought out by the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Outsourcing group for almost €318m.

The deal is subject to shareholder, High Court, and regulatory approval.

However, it has already secured the backing of just over 43% of CPL’s shareholders. It needs at least 75% shareholder approval.

CEO Anne Heraty, CPL’s founder, and her husband, the group’s business development director Paul Carroll, stand to pocket between €112m and €113m for their combined 35.4% stake in the business.

It is understood that Ms Heraty will continue to lead the company in the event of the takeover being successful.

CPL is Ireland’s only stock market-listed recruitment company and sources staff for a number of multinationals operating in the country, including Facebook.

In its most recent financial year, which ran to the end of June, the group generated revenues of €569.3m. It employs 13,000 staff across 45 offices around the world.

CPL’s share price surged by over 44% on news of the takeover agreement. Outsourcing's offer was at a 36.4% premium to CPL’s closing share price on Tuesday.

Outsourcing has a market value of just over €1bn and employs 80,000 people across a network of 200 companies in the recruitment and HR sectors. It has grown strongly outside of Japan through acquisition.