Gi Group Holding celebrates 50th strategic acquisition marking 25 years of steady growth and expansion

Just a few months after its acquisition of Encore Personnel in the UK, Gi Group Holding has purchased The Bridge—an HR technology consultancy focused on building and scaling up digital capabilities for multinational businesses. This is the 50^th acquisition the business has made.

Founded in 2017 in Santiago de Chile, The Bridge Social offers clients a global network of creative, technological, and digital professionals, built on the promise of creating meaningful connections between companies and clients. The acquisition will allow Gi Group Holding to expand not only its regional presence, but also strengthen its offering in the HR technology space. Indeed, The Bridge Social’s cutting-edge technology, combined with Gi Group Holding’s expertise in recruitment and staffing, will provide a unique and comprehensive solution for clients looking to optimize their Technology, Design, and Data science professional teams.

Over the years, Gi Group Holding management has pursued a measured, strategic approach to business growth: developing both internal company services and talent, while also acquiring new businesses whose service and product offerings complement and enhance the Group structure. This holds especially true when it comes to delivering the best services possible for Gi Group Holding clients and candidates.

Throughout our company’s history, strategic investments and acquisition have advanced our capability to grow and be resilient: even when faced with challenging market ebbs and flows. Our most recent 2021 results are remarkable, thanks to earnings contributions from the entire Gi Group Holding community amounting to 3.2 billion EUR in revenues (up by more than 30% against the 2020 fiscal year).

Gi Group Holding made its first acquisition way back in 2005 buying Fiat’s employment agency Worknet, making the Group the largest Italian-owned agency at the time; with turnover of 320 million EUR and 190 branches. Only a year later, it completed its first foreign acquisition by purchasing Germany’s Mumme Personaldientsleistungen GmbH, and in 2008 its first extra-European company purchase with the buy-out of the permanent and professional staffing service agency, Elixir. During that same year, the Group took over Brazil’s S&L Recurso Humanos, marking its first acquisition in Latin America, and completed further international expansion to China, France, and Spain.

Just three years later Gi Group would acquire R4S, giving the Group a presence in the UK. In the mid-2010s, Gi Group Holding began making a series of strategic acquisitions to expand its service portfolio: it bought TACK & TMI in 2016 giving the company an international opening to Learning & Development services and in 2018 it acquired Grafton, a brand dedicated to the development of candidates and their professional profiles.

In 2022, Gi Group Holding purchased EUPro which significantly elevate the Milan-based group’s footprint and capabilities in Switzerland and the Principality of Lichtenstein, becoming number one in the Ticino Canton. Furthermore, Gi Group Holding took a further step with the acquisition of CVO Recruitment and Simplika, which allowed the Group to be present in Estonia and Latvia, strengthening its presence in the Baltic region.

In the last two years, the Group has made a couple of strategic, technology-focused acquisitions: first with its buy-up of the JobToME a Programmatic Job Advertising Solution company in 2021 and then, this year, by purchasing The Bridge Social.

“With all our business buy-ups and acquisitions, there is always a clear strategy to why we seek to acquire specific companies. This ranges from intriguing and client-beneficial product offerings on to access to new markets or the delivery of technologies that will streamline our work and service-delivery processes. At Gi Group Holding, we have always believed in a combination of organic (internal service-driven) and acquisition-based growth. As we reach the 50^th company purchase mark, we are proud that this strategy has paid off and brought us a tremendous wealth of know-how, market access, and service + product innovation,” – Stefano Colli-Lanzi, Founder & CEO

We, at Gi Group Holding, look forward to sharing continued successes as our passionate team of professionals across the world, and from all the above-mentioned, successfully integrated businesses, work together to implement our strategic vision and make a difference for People, Labour Markets, and Society by being #MoreThanWork.