Benchmark International Successfully Facilitated the Transaction Between Skillko Limited and Health & Safety Institute Inc

Benchmark International is proud to announce the acquisition of Skillko by Health & Safety Institute (HSI).

Skillko, located in Westport, Ireland, is a leader in competency management, induction processes, and supplier onboarding for customers across the EU and UK, helping to enable a safer and more productive workforce at the point of service. Skillko operates on a SaaS model and has established a strong client base with over 100 customers, and 60,000 active user accounts across Ireland and the UK.

Skillko’s streamlined approach removes as much as 90% of the tasks involved with these functions, allowing organisations to save precious time, resources, and finances. With more than 15 years of industry knowledge accrued among its founding members, Brendan Maloney and Dermot O’Connor, and the company’s unique insight gained through the support of clients, Skillko has the ability to transform training management, onboarding processes, and supply chain integration.

HSI, located in Dallas, Texas, is majority-owned by Waud Capital Partners, a leading growth-oriented private equity firm with total capital commitments of approximately $3.0 billion. In addition, HSI is also a single-source partner for environment, health, safety, quality (EHSQ), training, compliance, and operational risk management solutions. Across all industries, HSI helps safety and technical managers, human resources, first responders, and operational leaders train and develop workforces, keep workers safe, and meet regulatory and operational compliance requirements.

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Chad Birckelbaw, CEO of HSI commented: “This acquisition adds enhanced supplier and contractor management capabilities to HSI’s robust suite of EHSQ management solutions and strengthens HSI in the UK and EU markets. As supplier networks become more complex, and competency and compliance requirements increase, having a powerful and scalable solution to onboard, train, certify and manage employee, contractor and supplier skills is critical to modern business. Our acquisition of Skillko augments both our solution and geographic capabilities, allowing us to better serve global customers in complex industries.”

Brendan Maloney, co-founder of Skillko commented: “This is great news for Skillko customers, who now have access to and the support of a global leader in workplace safety and compliance solutions.

“HSI’s extensive EHSQ software and training capabilities deliver a single-source partner that helps organisations across the world deliver strong safety and compliance programmes, improve operations and train their workforces. We are excited to have access to an expanded portfolio, and Dermot O’Connor (co-CEO) and I are particularity proud to be partnering with a global business leader who sees the value in investing in the West of Ireland to help drive further expansion in the EU.”

Alex Cregan, associate director and lead on the transaction, commented: “It was a pleasure to work on behalf of the shareholders of Skillko for this transaction. The partnership between HSI and Skillko will be an exciting one, gaining traction in Europe and expanding the Skillko software across the US. I wish the very best to both parties going forward.”

The adviser teams are as follows:

Sell Side:

M&A Adviser: Benchmark International including Pieter Joubert, Sam McNamee, Alex Cregan, Marian May Dennehy, Jack McGrath, Andreea Epure, Andrew Cummins & Kelly Hanley

Legal: Pinsent Masons including Neil Keenan, Joseph de Paor & Dorian Rees

Accounting: K Magill & Company including Kieran Magill & Ciaran Boyle

Buy Side:

Legal: Maples including Jordan O’Brien & James Reidy

Financial DD: Alvarez and Marsal

Tax DD: BDO

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