Daily News

View All News

Netherlands – Flexpoint acquires Trace

21 October 2014

Dutch HR services provider Flexpoint Holding BV will more than double in size following its majority stake acquisition of Belgian temporary staffing and outplacement firm Trace, which has 12 offices in the predominately French speaking Wallonia-region.

After several years of difficulty, the acquisition will secure Trace’s future. The company currently deploys an average 1,700 temporary workers each week, in addition to an estimated 1,000 service voucher workers. Service vouchers are paid to temporary workers who offer household and homecare services to individuals. The vouchers are purchased by private users.

Jos Gilissen, CEO of Flexpoint Holdings, commented: “In 2014 Flexpoint will achieve about €60 million in revenue in Belgium. With this acquisition, we are now clearly established on both sides of the linguistic border [Belgium has four official languages: Dutch, German, French, and Flemish].”

 “[As a company] we have been active in Wallonia for a long time. We are the market leader in the province of Liege for service vouchers, having taken over six companies in the last two years across the region,” he added. 

Claude Jacqmin, Director of Trace, said: “One of the reasons we chose Flexpoint in that they want to take over the entire company. It guarantees the survival of both the temporary and service voucher segments. With our new partner we want to restore growth. This is the best guarantee for employment in the long term.”

Mr Gilissen added: “We have chosen a gradual approach. Therefore we will retain Trace’s name and its headquarters in Charleroi (Wallonia). Step-by-step we will build a healthy company in cooperation with trade unions and the Walloon regional government.”

Following the acquisition, the Walloon regional government, which previously owned 99% of the company and currently retains 20%, will remain on the company’s board as a shareholder.

Mr Gilissen said: “After three years there may be an opportunity to increase our stake to 100%.”