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Monday, July 6, 2009
Before Watson Wyatt deal, Towers Perrin sold its stake in ExcellerateHRO

When big commercial leases get close to expiring, the negotiations to entice an employer across town, the city line or the river can gain a public profile.

That happened in 2003, when Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby Inc. was looking to relocate its pension and health and welfare administration services operation in Voorhees.

The bistate jockeying ended with the privately held firm picking Cherry Hill, keeping 1,100 jobs in South Jersey. Towers Perrin moved into a renovated steel factory, taking 200,000 square feet of office space.

So I was curious what happened to that operation following the news last week that Stamford, Conn.-based Towers Perrin would be merging with Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. in a transaction worth about $3.5 billion. After all, Towers Perrin said its Center City office was its biggest with 1,016 employees.

What happened to the Cherry Hill operation is that Towers Perrin had sold its last remaining interest in the business about a month ago, said spokesman Joe Conway.

Less than six months after making that move from Voorhees, Towers Perrin agreed to sell 85 percent of its interest in its human- resources outsourcing business to Electronic Data Systems Inc. That deal, under which EDS paid $420 million, closed in March 2005, and the business was renamed ExcellerateHRO.

In May, Towers Perrin sold its remaining stake to EDS, now a unit of Hewlett-Packard Co. Terms for that deal were not released.

A Hewlett-Packard spokeswoman would not disclose how many people ExcellerateHRO employs in Cherry Hill, saying it was company policy not to provide employment numbers by business unit or location.

Heading to work

Despite a bad job market, there’s always room for interns, right?

About 1,000 Philadelphia students will start their six-week paid internships at 120 local employers today. It’s the third year for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s involvement in a program managed by the Philadelphia Youth Network.

Employers either contributed positions in their workplaces or funding for positions at nonprofits.

The recession has meant fewer internships this summer than last, when 1,500 students participated.

Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 2:30 AM  Permalink | File Under: Business Services | | Small Business | Post a comment
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About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor.
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