Outsourcing behemoth Capita has acquired Reliance Secure Task Management (RSTM), a medical assessment and criminal justice support services firm.
The £20m purchase was made on a cash free, debt free basis.
The acquired firm, which has around 2,000 employees, provides forensic medical services, custody support and secure transport services to clients including the UK Border Agency, the Ministry of Justice, National Health Service (NHS) trusts and police forces.
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Its annual revenues total £75m, while its operating loss for the 11 months to March 31st 2012 came in at £5.7m. Once integrated into Capita the business is expected to realise significant synergy benefits and it is anticipated that it will return to operating profit in 2013.
Capita Group joint chief operating officer, Andy Parker, said: "The acquisition of RSTM will provide further scale and depth to the range of solutions we offer the health and emergency services, criminal justice system and wider public and private sector clients. It complements previous acquisitions, including SunGard Public Sector, Beat Systems and CedarHR.
"It also has significant synergies with our wide-ranging health and well-being business, which provides medical assessments in the private and public sector, including those for the new personal independence payments (PIP). We already work in some capacity with all police forces in England and Scotland, extensively with NHS trusts and, through our health and well-being business, with a number of large public and private sector organisations. These additional capabilities will allow us to provide new solutions, on a tailored basis, alongside our multi service offering."
The share price rose 0.07% to 721p by 16:09.
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