Adecco’s agreed acquisition of professional staffing company MPS Group signals the end of the company’s ‘big’ acquisition phase. 

The EUR 782m (£713m) acquisition strengthens Adecco’s offering in a number of professional staffing areas: information technology (Modis, Idea Integration), finance and accounting (Accounting Principals and UK-based Badenoch & Clark), legal (Special Counsel), engineering (Entegee) and healthcare (Soliant Health).

Patrick De Maeseneire, chief executive of the Adecco Group, told analysts and the media: “The big acquisitions are now done; we want to grow organically from here and realise the synergies in the next two years.”

The MPS acquisition provides Adecco with “a very good platform to growth organically from here, both in professional staffing and general staffing”, he added.

The news comes a day after Adecco completed its acquisition of Spring Group.

De Maeseneire said that the acquisition would complement Adecco’s existing business.  This was particularly the case in finance in the UK, where more than two thirds of MPS’s business is finance.  “This is very complementary for us because it was a non-existent business for us,” he said.

De Maeseneire added that the MPS acquisition was also complementary in the sense that MPS’s margins were seven basis points higher than those of Spring and Adecco, which were “at the lower end”.

De Maeseneire said the acquisition would generate £25m of synergies within two years, mainly in the US.

He added that the acquisition would not mean the end of the professional brands acquired by Adecco. “We want to be a multi-brand company for specialist skills,” he said.

Adecco has also announced it has launched the offering of a CHF (Swiss Francs) 900m (£540m) convertible bond.

In a statement, Adecco says: “The net proceeds of the offering will increase Adecco’s financial flexibility and strengthen its balance sheet in conjunction with the announced acquisition of MPS Group.”

Timothy Payne, MPS Group chief executive, said: “We are pleased to be joining forces with Adecco. Not only will this transaction create substantial shareholder value, but the combination of MPS Group and Adecco will also be very positive for our employees, consultants and clients.

“Together, MPS Group and Adecco will be well positioned to deliver a broad range of high-value professional staffing solutions to our clients. As our organisations grow together, we believe that this combination will also create substantial career opportunities for many of our people.”