Citizens Bank announced, in its role as joint lead arranger and co-collateral agent, that it has closed on $180 million in financing to support Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Select Staffing’s merger with Atlanta-based EmployBridge.
 
“Citizens was able to draw on its expertise to structure financing that allowed us to execute this transaction,” said Shawn Poole, executive vice president and CFO of the combined company. “Citizens bankers have been excellent financial partners who bring innovative ideas to the table, excel at execution and provide great services.”

The combined company will operate the businesses under their existing brand names and will be headquartered in Atlanta with significant corporate operations centers in Santa Barbara, CA, Irving, TX and throughout other centers in the United States. The merger brings together two strong staffing companies with highly complementary geographic footprints and approximately $3 billion in combined annual revenue.

“We are pleased to help finance Select Staffing’s merger with EmployBridge,” said Chris Carmosino, President of Business Capital at Citizens Commercial Banking. “We look forward to working with management of the combined company in the future.”

Citizens is the No. 7 ABL bookrunner in the U.S. based on volume of deals, according to the Thomson Reuters league tables.

Citizens Commercial Banking is the commercial banking division of Providence, RI-based Citizens Financial Group.