Q4 2020

18 APAC / Issue Q4 2020 , Global Expansion Competentia announces acquisition of Dare, significantly expanding footprint in the Asia Pacific region. Competentia, the global recruiting and workforce management specialist, has recently announced the acquisition of Dare, a leading professional recruitment and contract staffing agency with a 30 year history, expanding the company’s footprint in the Asia Pacific region. The acquisition sees Competentia add Singapore to its expanding list of global office locations. Dare’s clients include blue chip companies in the oil & gas, mining, infrastructure, renewables and manufacturing industries. Originally established as a small recruitment agency in Perth in 1988, Dare’s service offering expansion and success has been driven by organic growth. The company has provided skilled professionals at all levels of client organisations for domestic and international projects and has annual revenues of approximately 270 MNOK. (US $28m) Competentia was established in Norway in 1998, initially providing technical resources to the North Sea oil & gas industry and more recently moving into the mining, infrastructure, renewables, and technology sectors. The global company now has offices in Stavanger, Manchester, Paris, Qatar, Dubai, Calgary, Houston, Mozambique, Anchorage and Perth. It has annual revenues of approximately 1.2B MNOK (US $128m) This acquisition significantly expands Competentia’s presence in the Asia Pacific region by strengthening its long held presence in Australia and adding Singapore to their expanding list of global office locations. The move creates opportunities to increase market share in one of the world’s busiest regions for project staffing in the engineering, construction, manufacturing and technology sectors. “This is an exciting time for everyone involved,” said Jayden Wallis, CEO of Competentia. “We see the acquisition as an opportunity to further commit ourselves to the region, and to our belief that prospects for major projects in all of our key sectors are strong. We’re expecting to see significant growth in the job market as we come out of the COVID pandemic, and we’ll be positioned to help our clients and those looking for new opportunities to get back to work. With an increasing trend for flexible workforces in the global market, we want to be the preferred workforce solutions provider for contractors and clients, and this acquisition will help us increase our capability and scale to be such a provider in the APAC market. In addition to contractor headcount and revenue, we’re bringing some really talented and capable people into our team, and we’re looking forward to seeing all the things they will contribute to our clients and partners in the region.” Competentia’s long term strategy focuses on the application of new technology, delivering the first significant changes to technical recruitment models in recent years. InnerCircle, a technology platform that brings peer referral to the center of the hiring process, is set for release in Q4.