Private Equity Firm Acquires The Baer Group
June 3, 2022 – Private equity firm The Acacia Group has acquired The Baer Group – a full-service provider of contingent staffing in support of technology solutions for industry leading enterprise technology projects – as part of a strategy to address the growing shortage of skilled talent to lead and support digital transformation initiatives. The acquisition is seen as central to Acacia’s strategy of building businesses adept at helping government and commercial organizations access the agile technical talent and services they need to deliver digital transformation. The Baer Group will form a new platform business within the Acacia portfolio.
“Global demand for the best technical talent is at an all-time high and will only continue to grow,” said Craig Dawson, co-founder and partner with Acacia. “The team at Baer, who are exceptionally well regarded by their clients, oversees an expansive network of consultants and developers highly skilled in enabling clients to exploit the full commercial and mission potential of digital transformation.”
“We see immediate opportunities for Baer to support the clients of current Acacia companies with their demand for skilled technical talent,” Mr. Dawson said. “We will also invest in expanding the scale and breadth of Baer’s network of talent to grow its current blue-chip customer base. Baer has a bright future as part of the Acacia family. We’re delighted to welcome them to the team.”
The Baer Group was established in 1997 in Atlanta as an SAP preferred services provider. Since then, the company has become a partner to Fortune 500 companies across key markets including life sciences, consumer products and retail. Baer also works closely with federal systems integrators, supporting U.S. government programs with specialist resources and subject matter experts. Today, the firm’s project teams specialize in a wide range of enterprise platforms, including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, ServiceNow, AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
“As a new platform within the Acacia portfolio, we’re creating new possibilities for our company and new opportunities for our people,” said Peter Aaron, president of The Baer Group. “Together we have ambitious plans that will enable us to grow in scale and boost our value to clients. We will be expanding and diversifying our technical capabilities and product partnerships, growing our team and strengthening our ability to deliver on an international scale. Acacia shares our commitment to building teams of highly skilled and motivated people around a culture of innovation. That shared philosophy will serve us well as we continue to grow Baer as a destination employer for the best talent in the industry.”
Attracting and Retaining Talent
The rationale for Acacia’s acquisition of Baer stems from its direct experience of the growing challenges organizations face in attracting and retaining the best technical talent in a post-pandemic world, according to the company. “Skilled people are seeking greater career opportunity, diversity and flexibility,” Acacia said. “These dynamics, combined with the shortage of experienced engineers and developers, make it more challenging and costly for large organizations to sustain in-house technical teams. Such organizations are increasingly turning to businesses like Baer for specialist support.”
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“Private equity firms continue their hunt for staffing solutions firms that can benefit from having a financial and strategic growth partner to help them scale, expand, and diversify,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO of Hunt Scanlon Ventures based in Greenwich, Conn. “We have seen zero slow down in deal activity this year. Our expectation is that more PE firms will enter the space in the second half of 2022 and into the first half of 2023. Transactions are lining up here, in the U.K., across Europe, and in the Middle East and Asia. Demand is particularly hot for search firms with high margins and strong management teams who can benefit from investor groups with the right growth playbook to accelerate their businesses,” he added.
The Baer acquisition builds on Acacia’s 2020 acquisition of TradeHelm, a nearshore software development business based in Argentina. TradeHelm now forms part of a global delivery capability for MajorKey Technologies, a digital transformation business within the Acacia portfolio—meeting growing client demand for more agile and cost-effective software development capabilities.
The Acacia Group is a values-driven technology investment firm. It builds businesses that benefit from and deliver digital transformation, creating the conditions for strong and sustainable growth. Acacia is designed to empower skillful leaders, shape collaborative cultures, nurture exceptional talent, develop differentiated IP, and build distinctive brands.
Related: Hunt Scanlon Media Launches M&A Advisory Service for Recruiters
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
