Cary’s Relias Learning expands into new markets with acquisitions

Relias Learning, an online training company for health care professionals that is in the midst of a hiring spree at its Cary headquarters, is expanding into new markets with its latest acquisitions.

Privately owned Relias recently announced that it has acquired Swank HealthCare, a 16-employee company that provides online training for hospital workers involved in acute care – that is, short-term care to treat severe injuries or illnesses; and AHC Media, a 27-employee company that provides continuing medical education, medical information and publications to physicians and others. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

CEO Jim Triandiflou said the acquisitions will enable Relias to expand to new markets and new customers faster than if it had started new ventures from scratch. In addition, he said, the companies Relias acquired have established brands and good reputations.

“About one-third of all the workers in health care work in acute care,” Triandiflou said. “We thought it was very important to get into that segment of the market.”

Relias, which has purchased a total of 11 companies since it was formed in 2012 with the merger of Silver Chair Learning and Essential Learning, also expects to be able to leverage its existing infrastructure to ramp up Swank’s and AHC’s sales, said Mark Belles, Relias’ chief operating officer.

Relias announced in July that it planned to add at least 450 new hires over five years at its Cary headquarters. The company, which could receive $5.36 million in state incentives over 12 years if it meets its hiring and investment targets, has added more than 100 workers locally since then, giving it a total of more than 400 employees in Cary. It has about 460 employees overall.

Swank HealthCare, previously a division of Swank Motion Pictures, will continue to operate out of an office in St. Louis. But Relias isn’t opening an office in Atlanta where AHC was located.

“The folks in Atlanta will continue to work out of Atlanta remotely or move to Cary,” Triandiflou said.

Triandiflou said that Relias’ organic revenue, not including acquisitions, has been expanding at a greater than 20 percent annual clip. “And then with acquisitions,” he added, “we’re growing over 40 percent a year.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Cary’s Relias Learning expands into new markets with acquisitions."