MPS, a Jacksonville, Florida-based professional staffing firm, ranked No. 13 on Staffing Industry Analysts’ lists of largest U.S. and global staffing firms.

Adecco agreed Tuesday, October 20, to pay $13.80 per share in cash in the deal valued at approximately $1.3 billion, according to MPS. The deal received unanimous approval from MPS’ board, but it is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. It’s expected to close in the first quarter of 2010.

“One of the major attractions for Adecco is MPS’ leading technology platform, Beeline, which will greatly contribute to Adecco’s managed service program and recruitment process outsourcing program,” Adecco CEO Patrick De Maeseneire said in a conference call with analysts. “Together, we become the leading provider of MSP and RPO services.”

Beeline is also a vendor management system.

In addition, the MPS deal will strengthen Adecco’s position in professional staffing and give it a hold in health care staffing in the U.S.

“Together, we move up to become the market leader in engineering and in legal,” De Maeseneire said. “And we now rank No. 2 in IT staffing, as well as in finance and accounting. This combination also gives us an entry into the growing health care market, where Adecco had limited presence until now.”

MPS ranked as the largest legal staffing firm in the U.S., according to Staffing Industry Analysts’ lists of largest U.S. firms by segment. It was the fifth-largest information technology staffing firm, fifth-largest engineering staffing firm, 10th-largest finance/accounting staffing firm and 12th-largest health care staffing firm.

Twenty-five percent of Adecco’s business will be in professional staffing with the acquisitions of MPS and Spring Group, up from 17 percent in 2008, according to De Maeseneire.

Adecco also announced Tuesday the closing of its acquisition of U.K.-based staffing firm Spring Group. Spring had sales of $747.9 million in 2008.

Spring ranked No. 36 on Staffing Industry Analysts’ list of largest global staffing firms.

De Maeseneire, in the conference call with analysts, said Adecco’s bigger acquisitions are done for now and it will grow organically and concentrate on integration of the companies.

In a letter to MPS employees, CEO Timothy Payne said there would be no management changes in the short term and that Adecco would not fold MPS’ specialized business units into its general staffing business.

“In some markets, we are in similar businesses, but neither company has dominant market share in these instances so there will be plenty of room to grow,” Payne wrote. “In some specialty markets, such as health care staffing and IT solutions, there is very little overlap, so these specialties represent new market opportunities for Adecco.”

Jacksonville will serve as the base for Adecco’s North American professional staffing operations, MPS chairman Derek Dewan said in a statement.

—Staffing Industry Analysts

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