M&A Spotlight: YER grows footprint and resource with targeted European acquisitions

Inflexion’s minority investment into Netherlands-based specialist secondment and recruiting agency YER is supporting the growth of its data-driven talent platform domestically, in the US, and in Germany.

Innovative growth has always underpinned YER’s success. It was set up in 1987, and showed gumption in a pre-internet age by taking out full-page ads in newspapers to advertise its openings and boost brand awareness among highly educated and ambitious people. The business grew throughout the Netherlands, eventually shifting its focus from offline towards more temporary positions.

YER’s success to-date is down to its continuing ability to stay ahead of the curve, focusing on rapidly changing fields with employment shortages, and today offers high scarcity talent in engineering, IT, public sector and finance areas to a range of specialist end market verticals. It connects ambitious students, new entrants, professionals, experts, managers and executives to organisations in the Netherlands and abroad. Its consultants guide candidates to provide knowledge and a better understanding of themselves help them reach their full career potential.

YER acts as a full business partner and assists with strategies for its client roster of over 950 businesses, including ASML, Bosch, DAF, KLM, VDL and Rabobank. It operates from nine local offices in the Netherlands, four in the US and one in Belgium.

To maintain its leadership position and continue to grow, YER continually assesses and expands into new areas, both vertically and geographically. The business partnered with Inflexion Partnership Capital in 2023 to get funding for growth whilst retaining control of its business, and is benefitting from the investor’s has deep experience in this sector following successful experience growing FDM, K2 Partnering Solutions, Red Commerce, Sparta and Calco.

The acquisition trail

Inflexion’s experience in affecting over 500 acquisitions for its portfolio is a big support for YER’s expansion.  The first half of this year has seen two acquisitions for YER Germany alone, bringing its number of seconded professionals there to nearly 1,500. “Entering this market was our main strategic priority, and Inflexion’s support was instrumental in achieving that,” stresses CEO Johan Overgaauw. “We will seek further partnerships across Germany to strengthen and expand our footprint across regions and industries.”   

Its first acquisition expands both its footprints and its scope, with the purchase of Staffxperts earlier this year bolstered YER’s focus on the energy transition space given Staffxperts’ strong presence in the renewable sector. Established in 2005 by founder Carsten Bornemann and with three locations across Germany, the This acquisition should enhance YER’s service offerings for both clients and candidates, particularly in industries pivotal to sustainable development.

Not long after, YER went onto purchase AVANTGARDE Experts in May to gain large-scale access to the German market and in line with its strategic vision for international expansion. The acquisition should strengthen YER’s position in the German market for high-level personnel vacancies in key sustainable industries such as tech, mobility and energy.

AVANTGARDE was set up in 2007 and since then has become one of the German market leaders in filling academic roles in the mobility and tech sectors. The company provides support from four locations across Germany to automotive manufacturers and suppliers, OEMs, and industrial and digital groups as they seek the best talent. The business generated revenue of almost €100 million in 2023 and will continue to grow as part of the international YER network. “This acquisition was another important step in our international growth strategy, opening up a broad market entry for YER in Germany and improving our international offerings for both customers and professionals,” Johan says.

The impressive acquisition cadence and organic growth means that today YER has a workforce of almost 4,000 employees with activities across the Netherlands, Belgium and the US, and generated revenues of circa €400 million in 2023. The new strategic partnerships enable further growth areas to be developed while reinforcing the company’s market position regarding the forward-looking MINT sector: maths, information (computer) science, natural science, technology.