Exclusive: Houston staffing company snatches up Kingwood firm


Houston Business Journal

         
Houston Business Journal

Murray Resources Ltd., a Houston-based staffing company, has acquired Kingwood, Texas-based Kingwood Personnel Inc., the first acquisition in Murray Resources’ 27-year history.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Murray Resources has made efforts to expand its footprint over the last year and a half, with expansion into the Dallas and Austin markets last month, as well as a new recruiting office in The Woodlands in January 2013.

However, the acquisition of Kingwood Personnel represents a shift in strategy for the company, as it will be the first office outside of its headquarters to be regularly staffed. All of Murray’s other offices are by appointment only, Keith Wolf, managing director, told the Houston Business Journal.

“What attracted us is the beach head in the Kingwood area, instead of trying to build out (a Kingwood location from scratch),” Wolf said. “This is a company we’ve long known about.”

Kingwood Personnel has three employees, all of which are expected to remain with Murray for an unspecified period of time, Wolf said. Kingwood Personnel will keep its name as well, he added.

Murray Resources made the acquisition in part for Kingwood Personnel’s location and for a new segment of business. While there was a lot of overlap in some of the professional service industries Murray Resources already works in, Kingwood Personnel also has a logistics segment that will be a new space for Murray Resources.

In the long-term, this is part of Murray Resources’s growth strategy. The company tries to double in size every three years and make an acquisition when opportunity calls, Wolf told the HBJ. While another acquisition isn’t immediately in the pipeline, another one by year-end makes sense, he said. The company also would like to add another four to five employees by the end of the year.

Murray Resource ranked No. 15 on the Houston Business Journal’s Largest Direct Hire list with 159 locally placed permanent employees last year, according to HBJ research.