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

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

With the addition of The Bridge to Gi Group Holding’s human resources ecosystem, the company completes its 50th acquisition and further strengthens its service offering.

Gi Group Holding will announce the acquisition of The Bridge, a human resources technology consultancy focused on building and enhancing digital capabilities for multinational companies, as the company’s 50th acquisition.

Founded in 2017 in Santiago, Chile, The Bridge Social offers clients a global network of creative, technology and digital professionals built on the promise of creating meaningful connections between companies and clients. The acquisition will allow Gi Group Holding to not only expand 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 optimise their teams of technology, design and data science professionals.

Over the years, the management of Gi Group Holding has pursued a measured and strategic approach to business growth: developing both internal services and talent, also acquiring new realities whose services and products complement and enhance the Group’s structure. This is particularly true when it comes to providing the best possible services to Gi Group Holding’s clients and candidates.

Throughout our company’s history, strategic investments and acquisitions have enhanced our ability to grow and be resilient – even in the face of challenging market ebbs and flows. Our most recent results for fiscal 2021 are impressive, thanks to profit contributions from the entire Gi Group Holding community of EUR 3.2 billion in revenue (up more than 30% from fiscal 2020).

Gi Group Holding made its first acquisition back in 2005 by purchasing Fiat’s employment agency Worknet, making the Group the largest Italian-owned agency at the time; with a turnover of €320 million and 190 branches. Only a year later, it completed its first foreign acquisition with the takeover of the German Mumme Personaldientsleistungen GmbH and in 2008 its first acquisition of a non-European company with the takeover of the permanent and professional employment services agency Elixir. In the same year, the Group took over the Brazilian S&L Recurso Humanos, marking its first acquisition in Latin America, and completed further international expansion in China, France and Spain.

Only 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 portfolio of services: it acquired 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 acquired EUPro, which significantly enhances the Milan-based group’s presence and capabilities in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, making it number one in the Canton of Ticino. Furthermore, Gi Group Holding took a further step forward 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 past two years, the Group has made a couple of strategic technology-focused acquisitions: first with the acquisition of JobToME, a programme-based job advertising solutions company in 2021, and then, this year, with the acquisition of The Bridge Social.

“With all our corporate purchases and acquisitions, there is always a clear strategy as to why we seek to acquire specific companies. This ranges from intriguing, customer-friendly product offerings to entering new markets or providing technology that will simplify our work and service delivery processes. At Gi Group Holding, we have always believed in a combination of organic growth (based on internal services) and growth based on acquisitions. As we reach our 50th acquisition milestone, we are proud that this strategy has paid off and brought us a huge wealth of know-how, market access and product and service innovation” – Stefano Colli-Lanzi, founder and CEO

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