Kforce to Sell Clinical Research Business

According to

, the Tampa, Florida based staffing firm Kforce

has agreed to sell its clinical research business to Burlington, Massachusetts-based inVentiv Health for $50 million. The division is being sold because Kforce is looking to focus on its core business. The clinical business, which accounted for about 9.5 percent of Kforce's total revenue in 2011, provides permanent placement of clinical research staff and contingent contract staffing to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. In a statement, Kforce's CFO Joe Liberatore said the company should be able to to make up the lost revenue from KCR (Kforce Clinical Research) by this time next year, because of the continuing strong demand in their tech and financial and accounting businesses. According to Kforce, the transaction is expected to close by the end of March. In a separate statement, inVentiv Health said it expects about $70 million in adjusted annual revenue. Shares of Kforce closed on the NASDAQ at $14.57 on Friday.