M&A analysis: PRO Unlimited and Workforce Logiq — Scale, operating leverage and the intersection of managed services, data and technology in the VMS/MSP market

This week, PRO Unlimited announced it would acquire Workforce Logiq (which some may remember originally as ZeroChaos), in a deal backed by EQT Private Equity that is expected to close later in 2021.

The combination of PRO Unlimited and Workforce Logiq would at first seem to be a classic private equity scale play — combine the two largest hybrid VMS/MSP providers (which also happen to offer payrolling and other solutions) to provide a logical alternative to technology agnostic MSPs (AGS, KellyOCG, Pontoon, Randstad Sourceright, Tapfin, etc.) and VMS/temporary staffing technologies (both traditional leaders like Beeline and SAP Fieldglass, as well as upstarts like Utmost and VNDLY).

But beyond the obvious rationale (operating leverage), are there other factors that went into the combination?

In short, yes. But like this sector — which is not just VMS/MSP, but payrolling and recruitment process outsourcing and more — it’s complicated and nuanced, even if scale is the primary synergy lever in the transaction.

This Spend Matters PRO analysis provides a rapid analysis of the combination of PRO Unlimited and Workforce Logiq and insight into the changing VMS/MSP landscape (including a look at Workforce Logiq’s comparative capabilities and customer satisfaction relative to our SolutionMap benchmark for services procurement).