Gemisa Investments has acquired 45% in recruiter Business Intelligence Agency (BIA). The value of the deal was not revealed by the current shareholders, who said only that the deal was not only a question of money, but also one of "financial perks".
"This is a ''progressive deal'', from which the shareholders will make a gain that is in proportion with the company''s profitability," explained Dragos Rosca, the manager of Gemisa Investments.
Besides Gemisa, which specialises in buying companies early in their development, the other owners of BIA are George Butunoiu, who is the founder and former owner of the company and who owns a remaining 10%, CIEL Romania and Dragos Rosca.
Rosca estimates that the investment by the fund in the company will stop at 300-400,000 euros, which is the average amount of money Gemisa normally invests in the companies it takes over. The fund will then exit the business in four to six years.
After being founded in 1992 by George Butunoiu (currently general manager of headhunting company Alexander Hughes Romania), BIA operated until this year as a recruitment firm, first using advertisements and then using a database.
The new shareholder, however, plans to expand the company''s business by providing integrated human resources services. This will see BIA''s services expand to payrolls, recruitment, consulting, and soft-skills training and management.
Dragos Rosca says this sector is developed and will expand quickly in Romania after companies mature.
"There is no interest on the human resources company market, but only on the professional services market (aimed at companies) which is becoming increasingly stable," Rosca explained. The new BIA manager, Marius Balasoiu, expects turnover in 2006 to exceed one million euros, of which training will generate 200,000 to 400,000 euros, recruitment 500,000 to 700,000 euros and payroll at least as much as recruitment.
"Market specialists are placing too much emphasis on administrative routines instead of human resources strategies," Balasoiu says. "They all tend to catch the pink elephant of human resources and do nothing but personnel management. We are trying to provide an alternative." Balasoiu is an experienced trainer and training manager, having worked previously for Shell, Telemobil (Zapp) and AIMS. The training market contains several hundred companies, adds Balasoiu.
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