CV Check in $15m acquisition

Listed tech company CV Check is poised for faster growth after acquiring Perth firm Bright People Technologies, bringing together two pioneers in workforce management software.

Osborne Park-based CV Check has agreed to pay a total of $15.3 million for Bright, which has been operating for nearly 20 years, mainly in the Western Australian market.

This comprises $12 million in shares and the redemption of $3.25 million of Bright debt.

To support the growth of the combined group, CV Check has raised $10.5 million through a heavily oversubscribed share placement.

The placement was priced at 16.5 cents per share, a discount of just 1 per cent to the five-day average trading price.

CV Check chief executive Rod Sherwood said the combined group would be able to deliver a broad suite of services to individuals and employers.

CV Check, which generated a record $7 million of revenue in the six months to December, is best known for its automated screening and verification services.

Bright is best known for its Enable software, used by 3,500 companies.

It has spent the past three years developing its ‘next generation’ Cited, which supports workforce compliance through proof at work, checking backgrounds and identities, and managing and storing credentials.

CV Check chief executive Rod Sherwood said the unified capability would enable live reporting, boosting compliance and risk management.

Bright had annual revenue last year of $4.9 million with an 85 per cent profit margin, with about half its revenue coming from the sale of software (SaaS) licences.

Its clients include BHP, Roy Hill Holdings, Woodside Petroleum, Water Corporation and the NT government.

CV Check chair Ivan Gustavino said Bright was an excellent strategic fit.

“Combining our complementary platforms and products will create a credentials-based workforce management capability to address growing demands from our existing and future customers,” he said.

“In addition to the obvious synergies of combining the two companies technical capabilities and the experience of both teams, it will also see CV1 expand by adding SaaS based revenue.

“This is truly transformative.”

Mr Sherwood said CV Check already has sales across Australia and New Zealand, providing a distribution platform for Bright’s new software.

Bright’s chairman and major shareholder Jon Birman (whose past experience includes running UGL Resources) will join CV Check’s board as a director.

Its managing director Petra Nelson and product director Declan Hoare will also join CV Check as executives, along with about 30 staff.

Bright’s current shareholders, which include Ms Nelson and Mr Hoare, will own about 17 per cent of CV Check on completion of the acquisition.

CV Check was advised by Sternship Advisers and law firm Steinepreis Paganin on the acquisition.

The capital raising was jointly managed by Shaw and Partners and Ashanti Capital.

Mr Sherwood said the capital raising was strongly supported by institutional investors.