Waterman Capital invests in meeting Australasian businesses' hunger for skilled labour.

Waterman Capital has today confirmed it has invested in a company with a box-seat position for feeding the skilled labour hunger of blue-chip Australian and New Zealand corporates involved in the mining, construction, infrastructure, financial services and other sectors.

Auckland-based Waterman Capital has acquired a 50% shareholding in migration services business Working In Limited in order to assist, and to participate in, the company's growth plans.

Auckland-based Working In has a decade-long history of assisting skilled migrants from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Canada to move to, work and live in Australia and New Zealand for contracted clients including BHP Billiton, Caltex, Rio Tinto, Downer EDI, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Beca, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances.

Working In channels skilled employees to such talent-hungry corporates via migration and employment expos, the scale, complexity and built-in high-quality client base of which are very difficult to replicate. 

Executive director of Waterman Capital, Chris Marshall, says that the acquisition puts Waterman and its investors in a good position to benefit from broader economic trends relating to ageing populations and labour demands.

 "The coming structural shortage in the labour market has been well-canvassed in submissions to the Savings Working Group and more recently by respected commentators on both sides of the Tasman.

"Working In has a proven, blue-chip employer-driven offer which positions it well for a labour market where those companies are facing ever-tougher competition for a dwindling number of suitably qualified candidates in their home countries," Mr Marshall says. "We are looking forward to working with founders Scott Mathieson and Hayley Roberts."

In New Zealand this has been noted by BNZ Chief Economist Tony Alexander who has made the following comment: "One of our key views is that the economy is going to run into some structural labour shortages from the latter part of 2012. If you're not considering migrant sourcing you are going to have a problem."

Chief Executive and co-founder of Working In, Scott Mathieson welcomed the investment from Waterman Capital.

"We have positioned Working In to lead the market in skilled migration over the next decade. We believe the partnership with Waterman is ideal to realise the potential of that position" says Mr Mathieson.

Executive directors of Waterman Capital Chris Marshall and Matt Riley will join the company's board, which includes Peace Software co-founder Ross Mathieson.

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About Working In

Established in 1998, Working In seeks to connect skilled professionals with employers through high quality and popular expos and websites. Working In has successfully organized the Opportunities Expos in the UK and South Africa for the past 12 years and recently added a Canadian expo. Working In also offers a visa consulting service assisting migrants to obtain working visas and permanent residency in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.  Working In has offices in Auckland, Sydney and London.

Additional information is available at www.workingin.com.

About Waterman Capital

Waterman Capital is a New Zealand owned and based private equity firm established by Matt Riley and Chris Marshall in 2004. It is focused on investing in and adding value to small to mid-market businesses in New Zealand.  Waterman Capital was the first manager appointed by the Guardians of the NZ Superannuation Fund for its Expansion Capital Strategy in 2010.

For more information visit www.waterman.co.nz.