Kelly Services To Cut Stake In PersolKelly JV; To Discontinue Cross-shareholding With Persol

(RTTNews) - Specialty talent solutions provider Kelly Services (KELYA, KELYB), while reporting fourth-quarter results, announced that the company and Japanese human resources company Persol Holdings Co. Ltd. have agreed to changes in their relationship in the APAC region.

Aiming to unlock capital to accelerate Kelly's specialty strategy, the company will reduce its ownership interest in PersolKelly Pte. Ltd, their joint venture in the APAC region, in the first quarter of fiscal 2022.

Kelly's stake in PersolKelly, the staffing joint venture established in 2016, to 2.5 percent from 49 percent. Persol will acquire 46.5 percent of the shares held by Kelly through a Persol subsidiary. These changes will have no impact on the operations of PersolKelly, which remains a premier staffing supplier across the region. PersolKelly will continue to use the brand name, PersolKelly, for a period of time.

Further, Kelly and Persol will discontinue their cross-shareholding. Kelly holds 9.11 million shares of Persol Holdings common stock, and Persol owns 1.58 million shares of Kelly's Class A common stock and 1,475 shares of its Class B common stock.

Kelly will monetize its equity holdings in Persol by selling all its shares in an open market transaction. Kelly will also buy back from Persol its equity position in Kelly.

With these actions, Kelly expects to realize the appreciation of its equity investment in Persol and enable the company to reinvest in Kelly's specialty growth strategy.

Both stock transactions are expected to be completed within two business days.

Peter Quigley, president and chief executive officer, said, "Kelly is already building on our momentum from 2021, which included Softworld, our largest acquisition to date, the creation of a strong, diverse leadership team, and the introduction of new solutions and products in our specialty businesses. With the additional transactions announced today, Kelly will free up significant capital to invest in our specialty strategy, positioning us to elevate growth and profitability in 2022 and beyond."