Staffing firm FirstMeridian Business Services Ltd. is planning further acquisitions to expand into new segments such as engineering staffing, finance and accounting outsourcing, and legal staffing besides enhancing presence in existing segments,said group CEO Sudhakar Balakrishnan.
This will enable the firm to leverage its existing assets and offer clients more comprehensive and attractive services, he added.
“Our acquisition strategy is aimed at deepening and broadening our expertise and offerings across our business lines and expanding the geographical coverage of our offerings,” Mr. Balakrishnan said.
“This industry has grown through mergers and acquisitions. On an average, 130-135 acquisitions happen every year across the globe and India is no different,” he added.
The firm has been focussing on acquisitions as part of its growth strategy since its inception.
“Post our incorporation in 2018, we have acquired seven companies and have integrated them well into our system. Most important thing according to me is people integration,” Mr. Balakrishnan said.
In 2018, it had acquired Innovsource Services and Innovsource Facilities, V5 Global Sevices and Affluent Global Services. Further in 2020, it had acquired the business vertical of Cornucopia V5 and CBSI India. In 2022, it acquired RLabs Enterprise Services having various skill sets, including systems, applications and products technologies, artificial intelligence and robotics, mobility, cloud computing and enterprise storage.
As of December 2021, FirstMeridian served more than 1,200 clients across a wide range of industries. For the nine months ended December 2021, it reported ₹2,069 crore revenue from operations.
Highlighting the company’s growth in the last four years, Mr. Balakrishnan said, “We have expanded our reach to 50 locations in 75 cities across India and have almost doubled our headcount to 1.18 lakh associates who are deployed at over 3,500 locations as of March 2022.”
FirstMeridian backed by Janchor, Goldman Sachs and Samara Capital had filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator SEBI in May this year to raise ₹800 crore through an initial public offering (IPO).
According to the draft prospectus, the IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to ₹50 crore and an Offer for Sale (OFS) aggregating up to ₹750 crore by promoters and existing shareholders.
