Dutch staffing firm Randstad to buy rival Vedior

By Reed Stevenson

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch jobs firm Randstad (RAND.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is buying rival Vedior VDOR.AS in a cash-and-shares deal worth 3.3 billion euros ($4.87 billion) to create the world's second-largest staffing company, it said on Monday.

The proposed offer values Vedior at 19.09 euros per share, a 55 percent premium over Vedior's share price last Thursday, one day before the companies said they were in talks.

The offer is expected to comprise 9.5 euros in cash and 0.32759 Randstad shares for each Vedior share.

"We do see the positive drivers for the acquisition since it improves Randstad's position in professional staffing and its geographical presence ... Moreover, scale remains an important competitive factor," SNS Securities analysts said in a note.

Based on the proposed offer and at Thursday's stock price, Randstad said in its statement that its offer was worth 3.5 billion euros, or 20.19 euros per share.

But shares in Randstad, which plans to issue 57 million new shares for the deal, fell 9.7 percent on Monday by 1200 GMT, reducing the value of its offer to 3.3 billion euros.

Vedior stock was trading up 9 percent at 18.52 euros, just short of Randstad's offer.

Shares in staffing firm USG People (USGP.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were up 3 percent to 19.30 euros, and Brunel (BRUN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was down 1 percent.