The Belgian investment company Gimv said on Tuesday that it has sold its stake in one of Belgium’s fastest growing staffing firms Accent Jobs, receiving €21.8 million for the sale to the French private equity firm Naxicap.

Staffing Industry Analysts reported in February that Gimv was looking to exit its 33% stake in the firm and news reports in Belgium said this transaction was a “debut” on the Belgian market.

Gimv first invested in the staffing firm in 2006 and said it looked back at the collaboration with “great satisfaction.”

“We look back with great satisfaction on almost six years of partnership with Accent's management. The growth achieved is truly impressive. This is certainly not the end of the story of Accent's growth,” said Alain Keppens, Head of Buyouts & Growth Belgium at Gimv.

Meanwhile Philip Cracco, CEO at Accent Jobs, commented that “Collaborating with a private equity partner is recommendable to entrepreneurs in Belgium.”

“It offers opportunities to grow faster, it challenges you to re-evaluate your business model and it pushes you to professionalise your organization. Furthermore, it requires you to set clear milestones every five years. This has stimulated Accent Jobs to grow much faster than the market.”

Turnover at Accent Job has grown from €92 million in 2006 to over €330 million in 2011. Over the same period, EBITDA has increased from €6.9 million to around €30 million, making Accent Jobs one of the fastest growing HR companies on the Belgian staffing market.

Accent Job is the fifth largest recruitment firm in Belgium, according to Staffing Industry Analysts’ research.

The staffing firm is owned by the House of HR group which is active in countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy and Slovakia. Accent was founded in 1995, and in just over ten years has acquired a major position on the Belgian temporary labour market.

Accent is a holding company for various specialist offices, including Accent Select Services (managers and white collar), Accent Industry Services (blue collar and technical personnel), Accent Financial Forces (financial sector) and Accent Construct (building sector).