Rein’s Australian business sale complete

Therese Rein will today complete the sale of the Australian operations of Ingeus, the international employment services company she founded in 1989.

WorkDirections Australia, Ingeus’s largest Australian subsidiary, will today be sold to JobFind Centres Australia, a national employment business that forms part of the Angus Knight Group. The business has been sold as an operating entity, with its 430 staff absorbed into the new entity.

The purchase, which remains subject to final approval by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, will help Angus Knight obtain a stronger foothold in the Victorian employment services market.

Although the sale price has not been made public, SmartCompany recently reported WorkDirections and Ingeus’s other Australian business, Clements Recruiting, sold in October to Bluestone Personnel, which generated revenue of $109.5 million and profit of $3.3 million in 2006-07.

The proceeds of the sale will be used to help fund the growth of Ingeus’s international operations, which Rein will continue to run.

“Ingeus remains committed to assisting as many people as possible into meaningful sustainable employment, and will continue to pursue this mission in other countries,” Rein says.

Rein announced she would divest Ingeus of its Australian businesses in May this year in response to concerns that her husband, new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, would face a conflict of interest if government contracts were awarded to Ingeus.