Staffing firm Kelly announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its European staffing business to Gi Group Holdings S.P.A. (“Gi”), one of the largest staffing companies in Europe, for cash consideration of up to €130 million.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Under the terms of the agreement, Kelly will transfer its European staffing business within its International operating segment to Gi. Kelly provides staffing services to customers in 14 countries across Europe. The company will retain its managed service provider, recruitment process outsourcing, and functional service provider (FSP) business with customers in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.
Following the close of the transaction, Kelly will maintain its global footprint and continue to provide MSP, RPO, and FSP solutions to customers in the EMEA region through KellyOCG, Kelly’s outsourcing and consulting group. As a leading global vendor-neutral provider of talent supply chain strategies and workforce solutions, KellyOCG leverages a network of 3,000 suppliers spanning 140 countries – including Gi – to connect customers across North America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA with top talent to grow their businesses.
“The sale of Kelly’s European staffing business demonstrates our commitment to taking bold, transformative action to optimize our portfolio and maximize value creation,” said Peter Quigley, president and chief executive officer. “This transaction unlocks significant capital to pursue organic and inorganic investments in our chosen specialties. Furthermore, it sharpens our focus on our higher margin, higher growth global MSP solutions, global RPO solutions, and specialty outcome-based and staffing services in North America. Together, we expect these outcomes will accelerate Kelly’s progress toward achieving a normalized, adjusted EBITDA margin in the range of 3.3% to 3.5% as we shared in August and drive profitable growth over the long term.”
Peter Quigley
The transaction is the latest in a series of strategic actions Kelly has executed to unlock capital in pursuit of its specialty strategy and further optimize its operating model, which includes monetizing non-core real estate holdings and businesses; unwinding Kelly’s cross-shareholding arrangement with Persol and reducing the company’s ownership interest in PersolKelly, its Asia-Pacific staffing joint venture; selling its operations in Brazil and Russia; and most recently, implementing strategic restructuring actions which enhance organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
Quigley and Olivier Thirot, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will provide additional details about this transaction as it relates to the company’s specialty strategy during its upcoming third-quarter earnings conference call on November 9, 2023.