Anscor to buy US nursing recruitment agency for $14M

A. Soriano Corp. (Anscor), the listed holding firm of the Soriano family, has signed an agreement to acquire Cirrus Holdings USA LLC, a nursing recruitment and placement agency, for $13.95 million.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Anscor said the deal involves the acquisition by its offshore unit Medtivia of all the outstanding equity interests in Cirrus Holdings and affiliate Cirrus Medical Staffing LLC. Both are North Carolina limited liability companies engaged in the contract and temporary staffing and permanent placement of nurses and allied healthcare professionals in the United States.

Anscor said the purchase price was determined using a 0.67 multiple over 2007 sales of $20.7 million. It is subject to confirmation of the final working capital component of the purchase price within 45 days from the signing of the purchase agreement.

Funding for the acquisition will come from internally-generated cash.

“Anscor pursued the acquisition as it believes in the business potential of Cirrus and is intended to complement the existing Philippine-based nurse recruitment and placement agency business of Anscor International Quality Manpower Services Inc.,” Anscor said.

Founded in 2002, Cirrus is a leading provider of travel nurse and allied healthcare staffing services and was the first healthcare staffing company in North Carolina to be awarded the JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization) certification.

Cirrus recruits nurses and allied healthcare professionals and places them on assignments of variable lengths and in permanent positions at acute-care hospitals and other healthcare facilities throughout the US.

To date, around 91 percent of Cirrus’ business is in the travel nursing segment, with the remaining nine percent in the allied healthcare segment. It currently employs 38 full and part-time employees and over 200 healthcare professionals on assignment at 150 healthcare facilities.

As of end-2007, the Cirrus group’s total assets reached $2.82 million, slightly higher than the previous year’s $2.7 million. Liabilities likewise fell to $1.31 million from $2.34 million.

Cirrus posted a net income $1.15 million last year, a turnaround from the $184,553 loss incurred in 2006. Revenues amounted to $20.74 million compared with only $18.95 million a year earlier.

Anscor earlier said it was looking at acquiring medical centers which include a hospital and nursing school based in the Visayas to ensure it has access to qualified nurses for deployment in the US.

Anscor is seeking to become a significant player in the following sectors – healthcare, tourism, telecommunications and call centers.