RAND Randstad NV

By Ian Walker and Jana Simmons 

Randstad Holding NV said Tuesday it agreed to buy Monster Worldwide Inc. for $429 million--snapping up a pioneer of the online job-posting industry and bolstering the Dutch recruitment giant's position in the U.S.

Monster, based in Weston, Mass., pushed into the then-nascent business of digital recruiting in 1994, and now offers staffing services in more than 40 countries. But in recent years, it, too, has become more of a traditional player.

It has struggled to keep up with an onslaught of competitors, including niche, online job boards. Recruiters have also gravitated to networking sites like LinkedIn Corp., which connects companies, recruiters and employees, who may or may not be looking for jobs right away.

Upon completion of the deal, Monster will delist from the New York Stock Exchange, and operate as a separate entity under Randstad. It will retain the Monster brand. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and other conditions.

Randstad said it agreed to pay $3.40 a share for Monster, a 23% premium to its closing stock price on Monday. The Dutch company said it would finance the deal through existing credit facilities and expects to complete it in the fourth quarter of this year. The transaction will immediately add to Randstad per-share earnings, the company said.

After the deal, Monster "will be better positioned to fulfill our core mission, and our employees will benefit from becoming part of a larger, more diversified company," said Monster Chief Executive Tim Yates.

Randstad ranks itself as the second-largest, human-resources services provider in the world, behind Switzerland's Adecco Group AG. It offers a range of placement and job-search services, including a network of walk-in job placement branches.

It is a smaller player in the U.S., however, where it competes with ManpowerGroup. Randstad generated revenue of EUR19.2 billion ($21.3 billion) in 2015, but only EUR4.7 billion of that came from North America.

It has recently used deal making to push into the U.S. In September, it agreed to pay $100 million for U.S. startup RiseSmart, which provides job placement analytics.

It has been on an acquisition tear of late elsewhere. Earlier this year, it bought Obiettivo Lavoro, an Italian recruiting agency for EUR102.5 million and Japan's Careo Group, a temporary-staffing provider, for an undisclosed sum. It is also in the process of completing a EUR420 million purchase of French rival Ausy SA.

On Tuesday, it said it would now reduce the pace of M&A and focus on integrating recent acquisitions. It expects to limit acquisition spend in the medium term to around EUR100 million.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com and Jana Simmons at Jana.Simmons@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 09, 2016 09:20 ET (13:20 GMT)

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