SD Worx, the Belgian-based HR solutions provider, announced that its subsidiary Protime, is acquiring its Spanish sector peer, SoftMachine.

SoftMachine is a specialist provider in Spain and supports some 450 medium-sized international customers. Softmachine employs 40 people at its Barcelona headquarters and Madrid office. In 2022, SoftMachine had a turnover of €3.6 million.

The current management team at SoftMachine will remain on board. The acquisition price will not be disclosed.

The acquisition is part of Protime’s ambition to become the European market leader in workforce management solutions. The software company, based in Mechelen, Belgium, is already active in its neighbouring regions including the UK, Scandinavia and now, in Spain.

To accelerate this international expansion, Protime acquired all the shares of its Spanish sector peer, SoftMachine.

“By expanding with strong local partners, such as SoftMachine in Spain, we are strengthening our ambition to become the best provider of workforce management solutions in Europe,” Gille Sebrechts, CEO of Protime said. "Company culture is a very important factor for Protime, and we see many synergies with SoftMachine’s.”

“From our very first discussions, this match of cultural values was clear. At the same time, we will be part of a strong European company,” Marc Noëlle, founder of SoftMachine, said.

Oscar Bermejo, founder of SoftMachine, said, “Since we started in 1989, we have developed a successful time management solutions with the valuable support from our staff and our customers in order to add value to their organisations and the society. Joining Protime now, we will continue to successfully achieve new goals with our customers and grow further.”

Protime said it aims to double its customer base to over 10,000 customers in Europe within five years, by becoming active in more countries but also by growing further in its home market, Belgium.

For the transaction, SD Worx was advised by DLA Piper Spain and EY. SoftMachine was advised by ILV Silver.