The recruitment and staffing sector is seeing dynamic changes over the past one year. And adding on to this trend, Global asset management firm T Rowe Price has acquired around a 5 percent stake in recruitment and staffing company TeamLease Services for about Rs 157 crore ($24 million) through open market transactions. 

The shares were acquired at the rate of Rs 1,885 apiece from Mumbai-based mid-market private equity firm Gaja Capital. Gaja Capital had invested about Rs 75 crore to pick up 25 percent stake in TeamLease in two rounds in 2010 and 2011. Gaja Capital held around 13 percent stake in TeamLease as at September end, according to its shareholding information. The private equity firm’s stake in the company is likely to come down to around 8 percent. 

People Matters has reached out to TeamLease for comments. 

Gaja Capital had partially exited when TeamLease went public in February 2016. The IPO was oversubscribed 66.01 times, reported by People Matters as well.

According to stock exchange data, T. Rowe on Tuesday acquired 836,544 shares of TeamLease through its International Discovery Fund and T. Rowe Price International A/C – T Rowe Price International Small-Cap Equity Trust. 

The share price of TeamLease Services touched a 52-week high of Rs 2,184.95, rising over 15 percent intraday Wednesday on the news of T. Rowe Price acquiring a stake in the company. 

Post-IPO, People Matters had reported that TeamLease had acquired ASAP Info Systems for Rs 67 crore in July 2016. This acquisition also means the entry of Teamlease in the core IT hiring space. In May 2017, TeamLease announced their intention to buy 30% stake in Freshersworld to scale up its hiring business.

Recently, in a bid to grow its network security training portfolio and to cater to the increasing demand for network security trained professionals, Teamlease Skills University has partnered with CompTIA, a skills certification and education service provider.