ZRG Partners Completes Private Equity Capital Raise
February 8, 2015 – West Orange, NJ-based ZRG Partners has obtained capital funding with Northcreek Mezzanine to pursue strategic acquisitions and attract key executive recruiters to fuel its growth. ZRG, named to HSZ Media’s Top 50 U.S./Americas recruiter ranking for the first time this year, recorded $9 million in U.S. fee revenue in 2014, a 45 percent rise – making it one of the fastest growing search firms of its size. Globally, the firm grew by 29 percent, to $13 million. “The time is right to accelerate our pace of growth,” said CEO Larry Hartmann. “We believe the best solution for clients is a mid-size global firm.” Mr. Hartmann said that he is now finding a market driven by candidates and that clients are seeing the true value of retaining outside, expert recruiting advice. “Landing top talent takes hard work, persuasion and influence,” said Mr. Hartmann, who noted that the return of long term incentives and equity schemes to attract key leaders is pointing back to the value of a solid search partner to manage the talent acquisition process effectively. Rodger Davis, a Northcreek managing partner, said that his focus is on growth companies with great management teams and platforms that can scale and grow with capital infusion. “We felt ZRG’s data and analytics approach to hiring is disruptive” and will continue to drive growth. Northcreek Mezzanine makes creatively structured equity, mezzanine and senior debt investments in lower middle market companies; the firm typically targets companies with revenues between $15 million and $150 million with typical investments ranging from $2 million to $10 million. Neither ZRG nor Northcreek would reveal how much was invested in this deal, but it includes preferred stock, common stock and subordinated debt. ZRG Partners, a global executive search and human capital management firm, has 23 consultants working from 11 offices worldwide. Last year, the firm acquired New Directions Search of Wheaton, Il, which helped expand the firm’s manufacturing and industrial practice.
