CIEL HR raises Rs 82 cr for acquisitions: Pandiarajan: Rediff Moneynews

Chennai, July 2 (PTI) Human resources and staffing solutions firm CIEL Group plans to raise around Rs 82 crore in the current financial year to fund acquisition plans.

The city-based company’s chief executive officer K Pandiarajan on Tuesday said the company recorded outpacing industry growth by registering revenues of Rs 1,086 crore, crossing the Rs 1,000 crore mark in fiscal 2023-24.

Citing a report by independent brand valuation consultancy firm BrandFinance, he said that the valuation of the CIEL Group Brand was $30 million, or about Rs 250 million.

“In the India 100 by Brand Value study (conducted by BrandFinance), CIEL HR has been recognised for its brand strength. The study assigns brand strength of AA and a brand value of USD 30 million (around Rs 250 crore),” Pandiarajan told reporters.

“CIEL is the fastest growing technology-driven HR solutions company. We believe we are in a unique position. CIEL’s HR growth rate was 54 percent compared to the industry growth of 14 percent,” he said.

On the revenue front, he said, “We are extremely happy to announce that CIEL HR has achieved a significant milestone of crossing Rs 1,000 crore in revenue in just nine years of its operations (established in 2015). This acquisition underscores our continued growth trajectory driven by a strategic mix of organic expansion and strategic acquisitions.”

During the financial year 2022-23, CIEL HR Solutions recorded a revenue of Rs 799 crore.

Pandiarajan said the company is considering entering the Middle East and Southeast Asian markets this year through acquisitions.

“We have plans to acquire three companies that are into EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) staffing, IT (information technology) staffing, HR Tech and IFM. We are in talks with a few companies. Two of them are based in the Middle East, which will help us enter that market, while the third company is an Indian company,” he said.

To a question, he said the company plans to raise Rs 82 crore for three planned acquisitions this year. Last year, the company raised around Rs 50 crore and acquired five companies.

CIEL Group Director Latha Pandiarajan said since its inception in 2015, the company’s revenues crossed Rs 200 crore in 2018 and Rs 300 crore in 2021.

Pandiarajan declined to comment on the company’s proposed plans to hold an initial public offering (IPO), saying the company was under a “period of silence”.

In response to another question, he said that most of the company’s revenue comes from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat.