CapMan sells Staffpoint

Helsinki-headquartered private equity firm CapMan has sold its investment in Staffpoint, Finlands market-leading recruitment agency.

The company has been acquired by GW Sohlberg, an Espoo-based plastics manufacturer. The deal value was not disclosed but the sale of the firm’s 66% stake has earned CapMan €4m.

The buyouts specialist invested in Staffpoint in 2002 through two funds: Finnventure Fund V, Finnmezzanine Fund II, and Finnmezzanine Fund III.

”StaffPoint has developed very well in the last few years and the company’s turnover has grown by almost one-fifth annually. I believe that the strategic position we have built for the company together with the management during CapMan’s investment period and the growth forecasts for the temporary staffing industry create good prerequisites for StaffPoint’s business also in future,” said Tuomo Raasio, head of CapMan buyouts and senior partner.

The company is Finland’s leading temporary personnel agency with some 18,000 workers on their books. The company’s turnover was €87m in 2007.

It is CapMan’s first exit since November 2007 when, through Fenno Rahasto, a fund it co-manages with Finnish investor Fenno Management, its remaining stake in Affecto, an IT outfit, following the company’s IPO in 2005.