De Persgroep Netherlands has reached an agreement with investment companies 3i and HIG Capital for the takeover of VNU Media, which includes Nationale Vacaturebank, Intermediair and Tweakers. With VNU Media, De Persgroep wants to add a new dimension to its existing job market activities in the Netherlands and Belgium. The aim is to combine all recruitment communication initiatives under a new, binational company: VNU Vacature Media.

The ambition is to make VNU Vacature Media an innovative, pioneering service provider in the Netherlands and Belgium, focusing fully on recruitment services for applicants and employers. The Dutch job market is being extended to Belgium and vice versa, resulting in a combined population of 24 million Dutch speakers. This offers new prospects to employers looking to fill specialised positions. VNU Vacature Media wants to offer the best career options to applicants and the best applicants to employers.

Christian Van Thillo, CEO of De Persgroep: “The goal is to create a company of the future. We want our Human Resource Management activities to be of the highest quality, because the market needs a high standard of service. VNU Media is a company with a digital focus, uses advanced technology and has fresh ambitions. Tweakers is a fast-growing site that specialises in the ICT and consumer electronics market. We are proud that we have the opportunity to do this. VNU Media is a magnificent addition to our portfolio in the Netherlands and Belgium.”

Robert Van Goethem, partner at 3i Benelux: “We have worked closely with the management at VNU Media over the past six years. During that time we supported the management in transforming VNU Media from a more traditional media company to a state-of-the-art online recruitment platform. We firmly believe that with De Persgroep’s backing, VNU Media can develop and expand its business even further.”

Matthias Allgaier, partner at HIG Capital: “We are proud that we were able to foster the company’s transformation to an online recruitment services provider. De Persgroep has placed VNU Media in an excellent position to improve its market position further. “

Vacature has made De Persgroep the market leader in recruitment communication in Belgium. In the Netherlands, the daily newspapers Algemeen Dagblad, de Volkskrant, Trouw and Het Parool offer employers and employees many opportunities in print and online. De Volkskrant and vkbanen.nl are the leading publications for the non-profit sector. VNU Media (with over 250 employees) is one of the biggest online media companies in the Netherlands. The main brands are Intermediair, Nationale Vacaturebank, Tweakers.net and Computable. VNU Media offers visitors comprehensive professional information and career development opportunities. VNU Media’s sites list virtually all available jobs for everyone in the Netherlands, regardless of their position, sector, age, region or training. With more than 2 million unique visitors, the sites of De Persgroep and VNU Media already reach over a quarter of the Dutch working population each month.

The proposed takeover has been submitted to the relevant works councils of VNU Media and De Persgroep Netherlands and also to the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa).