H.I.G. Capital Acquires Abacus Software Group, IncInvestment led by H.I. G. Capital LLC with BancOne and NorgInvest
MIAMI – August 29, 1999- H.I.G. Capital, a Miami-based private equity firm, has acquired Abacus Software Group, Inc. (“Abacus”), a temporary staffing information technology firm headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, that provides highly skilled IT professionals to Fortune 500 corporations throughout the United States. Abacus was founded in 1982 by Prashant Fadia to recruit software professionals for permanent placement into IT organizations. Abacus began providing IT staffing services in January 1995 as a natural extension of its permanent placement business and currently focuses exclusively on the recruitment and temporary placement of SAP professionals in IT organizations. The Company has excelled at this line of business, growing its supplemental staffing revenue from zero to over $14 million in its first three years of operation. Abacus was ranked #1 in New England (and #32 in America) on the Inc. 500’s 1998 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, and was recognized by Deloitte & Touche as a company belonging to a select list of 500 companies in the U.S. making extraordinary contributions to the technology industry.
The IT Staffing market has been the fastest growing sector within the $104 billion staffing industry. During the past 7 years, the IT staffing market has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 24%, reaching of $23 billion in 1998. The primary drivers behind this growth are two fold: first, the increasing dependence of businesses on technology and technology professionals, and second, the increasing trend among U.S. businesses towards using temporary professionals as an ongoing component of their business.
Prashant Fadia, CEO of indicated: “We are expecting very strong growth in the IT services business in the next several years driven by the backlog of spending put on hold in anticipation of Y2K, as well as the tremendous focus on developing e-commerce capabilities. IT spending is now being viewed as a critical component of revenue growth in addition to improving the efficiencies of operations.”
H.I.G. Capital, with over $750 Million of equity capital under management, targets the acquisition of profitable companies with revenues of up to $250 million, as well as growth capital investments in early stage, technology companies. H.I.G. has to date made over 50 investments with combined revenues in excess of $3 billion.