Trenkwalder International AG, the largest Austrian-owned staffing agency, has sold its majority shareholding to Germany-based investment house Droege Capital GmbH.

Trenkwalder Chairman, Richard Trenkwalder, commented "the Droege group is a successful family business and has a lot of experience within the services sector. Further growth in interesting new markets in Eastern Europe can be achieved much faster this way."

Frank Tanski, Managing Director of Droege Capital added "we see the participation in the Trenkwalder Group as a long-term investment in a dynamic market. Strategies that provide more flexibility to companies will in future gain an even greater importance for medium-sized firms as well as for international groups."

In the medium-term, Trenkwalder intends to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in either Vienna or Frankfurt, according to Mr Tanski.

The conclusion of the transaction still depends on the positive outcome of a due diligence process, approval by the competition authority and the approval by the supervisory boards. However, Trenkwalder and Droege are confident that their plans will be realised before the end of the second quarter of 2011.