SHL and PreVisor join forces to create talent assessment solutions

SHL appoints Stuart Hedley VP Professional Services to cover China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Two of the world’s largest talent assessment pioneers, SHL and PreVisor, announced they have merged to create the global leader in talent management. The combined company will be known as SHL, and will deliver more than 15 million assessments annually in over 150 countries and over 30 languages. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Both SHL and PreVisor are privately held companies.

The new organisation will transform the talent management market by bringing together best-in-class innovation, assessment science and services to improve the business results and performance of organisations through superior people decisions. The merged company will be able to provide customers with the broadest range of assessment solutions for roles at all levels and to support decisions from recruitment to succession planning, in more languages and countries than any other talent management provider.

“As the economy improves, organisations are looking for globalised, integrated, science-based solutions for recruiting and talent assessment,” said Josh Bersin, President and CEO of Bersin & Associates. “The merger of SHL and PreVisor creates a global market leader that can both advance the state of the industry and meet the needs of growing companies around the world.”

“As organisations look longer-term to support their growth objectives, quicker and more accurate visibility into talent gaps and workforce readiness is critical”, said Kevin Martin, Senior Vice President of Research Operations at Aberdeen Group. "The merger between SHL and PreVisor brings together two leaders in pre and post-hire assessments that combined, has the potential to support an organisation's global talent management needs from entry-level to executive job roles.”

The combined company will have over 850 employees with a presence in more than 50 countries, and through the merger will become the largest employer of business psychologists anywhere in the world outside the public sector. These capabilities alongside a world-class consulting practice and a 24-hour customer support centre means SHL will be able to offer clients both global expertise and local insight, alongside access to over 1,000 assessments through an easy-to-use technology platform, according to an SHL report.

“For more than 30 years, SHL and PreVisor have been at the forefront of talent management, and so the announcement of our merger is an industry-defining moment,” said David Leigh, Chief Executive Officer, SHL, who will become CEO of the newly formed SHL Group. “This decisive move will accelerate the creation of a truly global leader in people intelligence, fundamentally changing the talent management market. The scientific rigor, innovation and technology leadership combined with the largest pool of industry experts and data, will make us the foremost global authority on driving business benefit through more effective people decisions.”

“This is a significant day for our customers, partners and employees across the globe. By joining forces we will be able to drive even greater innovation and value within the talent management marketplace,” said Noel Sitzmann, Chief Executive Officer, PreVisor. “Through the science of people intelligence, the company will be able to embed talent assessment solutions within our clients’ processes, improving hiring and development decisions and generating greater ROI for their talent management programs.”

SHL will be headquartered in London, with offices in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

For the Asia Pacific region, SHL is pleased to announce Stuart Hedley has been appointed to the new role of VP Professional Services with effect from 1 February 2011. Stuart, who formerly held a senior Professional Services role in the US, will cover China, Hong Kong and Singapore and report to SHL’s Chief Customer Officer, Mike Tims.

Prior to his US role, Stuart was a regional manager in the UK Professional Services team and since joining SHL in 2006 has led several global accounts including Aegon, International Baccalaureate and The Coca Cola Company. Stuart has also held senior HR roles at OKI and Telewest.

“Following the merger of PreVisor and SHL to create the global market leader in talent management, this is an exciting time to come into this role in such a growth market,” said Hedley. “I am looking forward to leading our Professional Services teams in Asia Pacific to help our clients drive improved business performance through better people decisions.”

The scale of services available to clients is the reason why over 50% of the Fortune Global 500, 80% of FTSE 100 and half of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) count on SHL and PreVisor for their people and talent management solutions and services, including Barclays, Coca-Cola, Danone, General Mills, Marks & Spencer, Microsoft, Sprint, Target, Time Warner Cable, UnitedHealth Group, Vodafone, and Xerox Corporation.

SHL is a portfolio company of UK-based private equity firm Hg Capital, and PreVisor is a portfolio company of US-headquartered private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS). By way of the merger, Hg and VSS shall each continue their ownership of the combined company in partnership.