The Hindu Business Line : Adecco to pick 67 pc stake in Peopleone

IN an all-cash deal, Adecco SA, a global staffing and HR services company, will acquire a 67-per cent stake in Peopleone Consulting Pvt Ltd, according to Mr Jerome Caille, Chief Executive Officer, Adecco SA.

With this transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval in the country, Adecco would have also acquired the 21 per cent stake held by J P Morgan in Peopleone Consulting. Announcing this in Bangalore on Wednesday , Mr Caille also said that they hoped to acquire "a 100 per cent stake in three years' time."

Peopleone, set up in Bangalore four years ago, reported a turnover of Rs 27 crore in the year 2003-04. It has over 7,500 associates working daily in the staffing segment and has so far placed 3,000 people through its recruitment business.

According to Mr Ajit Isaac, Founder and Managing Director, Peopleone, the company's recruitment business contributes to about 10 per cent of its turnover, while a "substantial amount comes from the staffing business." The company commands about 20 per cent of the current temping market in the country that employs around 40,000 people daily. Peopleone also has a training division, which specialises in soft skills training for candidates, corporates and government initiatives.

Adecco SA is a 16.3-billion euro, Swiss-based staffing and HR services company. With over 7,00,000 associates employed daily in the staffing division and about 1,10,000 clients serviced worldwide , Adecco is the fifth largest employer in the world.

Mr Isaac felt there is a huge potential in the telecom, banking, financial services and insurance, retail and business process outsourcing segments for the staffing market. "But there will also be a great demand for temping in manufacturing, transportation and healthcare sectors," he added.

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