We bring together Staffing Industry and Human Resources professionals to help companies identify development opportunities in the HR sector in France, Europe and Latin America.
The world of employment and human resources services is undergoing profound changes, driven by both the new aspirations of individuals and the talent and agility needs of organizations.
Careers are now made up of multiple transitions, leading to changes of profession and employment status along the way. To cope with this context, organizations today need to attract talent through increasingly diverse channels, while at the same time being able to support them in terms of their skills, career transitions and quality of life at work.
To meet the new expectations of the workforce and of companies, we need to offer an ecosystem that brings together a range of services, such as agency work, recruitment, umbrella companies, interim management, training and freelancing, and HR services that meet the challenges posed.
Our mission is to support our SME and ETI clients in their merger, acquisition or selling strategies, across the entire human resources services value chain, enabling them to anticipate these changes.
Years of cumulative experience
countries covered
Areas of business expertise
The interim management sector is growing steadily, under the triple influence of companies' need for agility, access to cutting-edge managerial skills and the desire of experienced profiles for autonomy.
Comprising pure players, intermediation platforms and business lines backed by recruitment or HR consultancies, the sector comprises just over a hundred players.
Still relatively new, the sector is set to continue to evolve, with mergers, acquisitions and the arrival of new players.
The temporary provision of employees is carried out by some 5,000 temporary employment agencies, operating through a network of almost 12,000 branches.
For several years now, the sector has been diversifying, notably into recruitment, training, "portage salarial" and even interim management.
There is a constant stream of takeovers and mergers between SMEs and ETIs, opening up numerous opportunities throughout the country.
A tripartite system whereby a self-employed person is carried by a "portage salarial" company (EPS) on behalf of its clients under salaried status. It mainly covers intellectual services in fields such as management, training, auditing, consulting and IT. Some 500 EPS operate on the French market, with sales in excess of 1 billion euros. In constant growth, the sector is experiencing a twofold trend of mergers between EPS and acquisitions by players from other professions, such as temping and recruitment.
Nearly 2,000 recruitment agencies are active in this market. Although particularly sensitive to the economic climate, the recruitment market benefits from a persistent shortage of skills in a number of occupations.
The changing aspirations of the working population are also leading to a broadening of the range of statuses on offer, from umbrella companies to interim management and freelancing.
The Executive Search sector includes both major international firms and local players, sometimes positioned in niche sectors or professions.
In addition to the direct approach, which increasingly uses data to source candidates, they are often involved in advising management teams. The sector is subject to a constant dynamic of acquisitions, and is increasingly opening to interim management.
Mainly practiced by firms backed by major HR solutions groups, outplacement, which originally focused on providing support for redundancy plans, has seen its range of services evolve over the last few years, both through the addition of services for people undergoing professional repositioning and for companies, particularly in the field of GEPP, with a strong emphasis on Data to anticipate and prepare for technological and market changes.
The highly fragmented training sector in France comprises over 90,000 organizations. It is undergoing radical change under the impact of increased certification requirements, the consolidation of training funds and the development of new training methods supported by digital and AI.
These developments are leading to a large number of mergers, and offer numerous opportunities to develop new HR segments through acquisitions.
Driven by the increasing complexity and digitization of HR processes and the adoption of new management approaches on subjects such as soft-skills, CSR, Work Life Balance and remote work, the HR consulting market is also impacted by the arrival of HR start-ups developing innovative methods across the entire HR value chain.
This sector is a major source of new opportunities for supporting the Future of Work in organizations.
Arnaud worked for 20 years in HR consulting for large groups and SMEs. He then developed and sold his own temporary employment group, while also serving as Chairman of Prism'emploi (the French federation of private employment agencies) for 6 years. In this capacity, he contributed to the evolution of the sector and its opening up to other HR activities: freelance administration, interim management and outplacement. For the past 5 years, Arnaud has been involved in M & A, managing several transactions on both the buyer and seller sides.
Tristan has been active in the Staffing Industry in France and Europe for 30 years. He was head of global public affairs for the world's leading temporary employment agency and vice-president of WEC Europe. Tristan supports companies in their acquisition and selling strategies, drawing on his extensive network of contacts in France and Europe. He is also the author of numerous publications on the Future of work and the freelancing ecosystem.
A Belgian national, Maurice was one of the first to set up a temporary employment business in Poland, which he subsequently sold to a European group. A member of the Board of Directors of the Polish Federation of Employment Agencies (Polskie Forum HR) from 2003 to 2010, he also represented Poland within WEC Europe. Maurice's knowledge of the temporary employment sector and his network of contacts in Eastern Europe and the Benelux countries enable him to support temporary employment agencies in their sales and acquisition operations in these regions.
Tom has in-depth knowledge of the HR services sector and an extensive global network of contacts. During his 15 years as Director at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) in the UK, Tom helped to set up the Future of Employment Observatory to anticipate changes in the labor market and opportunities for recruitment and temporary staffing companies. Tom was also board member at WEC Europe. Through his work for the ILO, he provides first-hand information on emerging markets for human resources players, as well as on global development opportunities. He is the author of over 30 white papers and research reports on industry trends and the Future of Work.
Quintessence Finances works with SME and ETI owners at different stages in the life of their company. From learning about a new market to assisting with a sale or acquisition process, our team members bring their expertise and network of contacts to bear in achieving their objectives.
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We attach particular importance to understanding your project, its purpose, timing and values. This is an essential prerequisite for our continued support, which must be based on a relationship of mutual trust.
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With our macro- and micro-economic market studies, opportunity audits and sector analyses, we give you access to in-depth knowledge of the markets, their players, business practices and regulations applicable to each country.
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Target identification, pre-diagnosis, presentation memorandum: we provide you with a privileged means of discovering new development opportunities, targeted and pre-qualified on the basis of a set of criteria that we'll have determined together. Based on an initial selection, we organize a first meeting with their managers to ensure that you share a common vision and philosophy of your businesses.
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Determining your objectives, drawing up the presentation memorandum, identifying targets, pre-diagnosis, NDA, organizing preliminary meetings with targets meeting your criteria and sharing your values. Starting with the key stage of the LOI, we bring our expertise to bear in organizing and analyzing due diligence, and support you throughout the entire negotiation process, right up to closing and drafting the transaction deeds.
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Preliminary analysis and possible adjustments, pricing, preparation of blind profiles and presentation memoranda, target searches.
We support you in the upstream preparation and contact potential buyers using our network of contacts and our buyer databases. Based on the LOI, we support you throughout the entire negotiation process, right up to the signing of the deeds of sale, with the watchwords of transparency, confidentiality and permanent presence.
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Because acquiring a company is just the beginning of a new chapter, we apply our know-how to help you identify the levers for future growth and choose and prioritize actions in terms of sales forces, back-office optimization and strategic orientations.
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The success of an HR services company depends on the men and women who make it up. Without an approach that takes their profiles and aspirations into account, a company merger and its future development can be seriously compromised. That is why we help our customers bring teams and cultures together, capitalizing on your DNA and on your ambitions for the future.
Would you like to find out more about us and tell us about your project? Write to us and we'll arrange an introductory call.
