Partner with Exit in Flex.Your route into Dutch staffing M&A.
Exit in Flex is an M&A boutique from Eindhoven that works only in staffing. We advise on the sale, purchase and valuation of temp agencies, secondment firms, payroll companies, recruitment firms and healthcare staffing agencies. We work with international M&A advisers, staffing platforms and investors who want to build a position in the Netherlands. You bring the plan or the client. We bring the Dutch side.
Why the Dutch staffing market, and why now.
The Dutch staffing market is changing shape. Four forces are at work at the same time.
- Consolidation. Private equity funds build platforms and add smaller agencies to them, one by one. This is called buy-and-build. Each add-on brings a region, a specialism or scale.
- A new licensing law. The Wtta takes effect on 1 January 2027. Enforcement starts on 1 January 2028. Every bv (Dutch private limited company) that supplies workers lodges a deposit of EUR 100,000. A bv is exempt only if it meets three conditions on 31 December 2026.
- A new collective labour agreement. The temp agency cao of 2026 introduced equivalent pay (gelijkwaardige beloning). It asks more of payroll, contracts and administration.
- Owners at a turning point. Much of the market is owner-managed. Many owners of smaller agencies are now weighing whether they want to carry the deposit and the extra compliance themselves.
Buyers from abroad watch the Netherlands closely, and some are already active here. Our radar records every known deal, including those with a foreign buyer.
Pricing follows size. Dutch agencies are valued on EBITDA times a multiple. EBITDA is roughly the annual profit from normal operations, before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Up to about EUR 0.5 million EBITDA the multiple is usually 3 to 5 times. From EUR 0.5 to 2 million it is 4 to 6 times. Above that, 5 to 7 times.
The live figures below come from our Flex M&A Radar.
The market in figures.
Every known transaction in Dutch staffing since 2024, each with a source. Updated 2026-09-27.
Per year: 2024: 48, 2025: 44, 2026 so far: 59.
Source: Flex M&A Radar, Exit in Flex. Free to cite with attribution. Quarterly barometer (Dutch).
What Exit in Flex brings.
Six things that take years to build in a market you do not know from the inside.
One industry
We work in staffing and nothing else. Temp agencies, secondment firms, payroll companies, recruitment firms and healthcare staffing agencies. We know how they earn their money and where the risks sit.
Senior partners
Robbert Jan de Rooij was a partner in a staffing agency and sold ZZP365 himself. Stef Kanen is a chartered accountant (registeraccountant) from the M&A practice of EY. Ron van Oeveren has 27 years as an M&A adviser in HR services. The partners have together advised on 45+ transactions with more than EUR 300 million in deal value, partly in previous roles.
Our own market data
The Flex M&A Radar tracks every known acquisition in Dutch staffing since 2024, each with a source, updated weekly. The Flex M&A Barometer sets out the figures per quarter.
Owners who come to us
Owners use our free tools: a valuation check, Know your buyer (Ken jouw koper), a net proceeds calculator, the Wtta check and the Wtta step plan. Through those tools, owners contact us directly.
Wtta and compliance
In a Dutch staffing deal, the risk usually sits in the past. We check the NEN 4400-1 certification (the Dutch standard for staffing companies), the cao and the Wtta position of every lending bv.
Five languages, three countries
We are active in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Our pages are in Dutch, Flemish, English, German and French.
Software and AI at the core.
Exit in Flex built and owns the operating system behind its work, from an owner's first valuation check to the signed closing: im.exitinflex.com. Our own technology, built for one industry. It takes repeatable work off the adviser, so the senior partners spend their time at the table. Five pillars, one continuous system: one data model, one place where the adviser works.
From first question to mandate
It starts with the free valuation check. An owner fills in fourteen industry variables and sees the range, the multiple and how it is built up on screen at once. An automated follow-up in several steps takes it from there.
Information memorandum
The information memorandum (IM) presents a company to buyers. The adviser writes it in a workbench and directs AI chapter by chapter. AI suggests charts. AI reads annual accounts (PDF, CSV or text) and turns them into revenue, EBITDA, gross margin, net debt, equity and FTE. A structured data request sends its own reminders.
Buyers
Buyers are matched automatically with propositions on sector preference and EBITDA range. From the first sign of interest, every buyer follows the same route: non-disclosure agreement, access, IM, questions and answers, indicative offer (NBO), shortlist. Buyers can draft a letter of intent (LOI) in their own house style, which the adviser reviews.
Deal execution
A workflow engine guards every phase of a mandate with quality gates. A phase moves on only when all gates are green. A dashboard shows the lead time of each phase.
Eleven automated processes
They take over recurring work. AI drafts answers to buyer questions, ready for the adviser to check. Open data requests trigger reminders. Each adviser gets a daily summary of open actions. Buyers who have been quiet for a week are reactivated. And the platform syncs both ways with the CRM.
How we use AI. AI output is saved as a draft first. It becomes final only after a person approves it. Personal data is removed before anything goes to an AI model. The platform works with several AI models and switches automatically if one fails. Documents are shared only after a non-disclosure agreement, in a secure data room.
What it means in practice: less noise and less manual work, a faster route from the first conversation to a buyer who fits, and owners and buyers who come to us themselves, through the tools.
How we work together.
Four forms. Each one starts with a call.
1. Cross-border mandates
Your client wants to buy or sell in the Netherlands. You lead the deal. We do the Dutch side: we search for targets and approach owners, in Dutch. We run due diligence on the points that matter here: NEN 4400-1, the cao and the Wtta. Due diligence is the buyer's check of the books, contracts and compliance before signing.
2. Co-advising
Some transactions have a Dutch component. A group with a Dutch subsidiary, or a platform that adds a Dutch agency. We advise alongside you on the Dutch part: valuation, the Wtta position of each lending bv, the cao and the negotiation with a Dutch owner.
3. Data and research
Use the Flex M&A Radar and the Flex M&A Barometer as a source for your market analyses, reports and pitches. The barometer may be cited with attribution. For example: Source: Flex M&A Barometer, Exit in Flex (exitinflex.com/flex-ma-barometer).
4. A longer horizon
Some parties plan more than one deal in the Netherlands. They build a region or a specialism step by step. For them, a Dutch counterpart who knows the owners, the rules and the prices pays off with every deal.
One mandate per transaction.
In every transaction we hold one mandate. We act for the seller or for the buyer. Never for both.
For you as a partner, that is simple. When we work on your client's deal, we sit on your client's side of the table. When we advise a Dutch seller, every buyer knows where we stand.
Questions from international partners.
Yes. Your client buys or sells in the Netherlands and you lead the deal. We do the Dutch side: we search for targets, approach owners in Dutch and run due diligence on NEN 4400-1, the cao and the Wtta. We can also co-advise on the Dutch part of a larger transaction.
Yes. The Flex M&A Barometer may be cited with attribution, for example: Source: Flex M&A Barometer, Exit in Flex (exitinflex.com/flex-ma-barometer). It builds on the Flex M&A Radar, which tracks every known acquisition in the Dutch staffing industry since 2024, each with a source, updated weekly.
No. In every transaction we hold one mandate. We act for the seller or for the buyer, never for both.
Through im.exitinflex.com, the operating system we built and own ourselves, from an owner's first valuation check to the signed closing. It matches buyers with propositions, reads annual accounts, drafts answers to buyer questions for the adviser to check, and guards every phase of a mandate with quality gates. AI output is saved as a draft and becomes final only after a person approves it. Personal data is removed before anything goes to an AI model. Documents are shared only after a non-disclosure agreement, in a secure data room.
Only staffing: temp agencies, secondment firms, payroll companies, recruitment firms and healthcare staffing agencies. We work on sales, purchases and valuations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
From 1 January 2027 every Dutch bv that supplies workers needs a licence, and enforcement starts on 1 January 2028. Each of those bvs lodges a deposit of EUR 100,000, unless it meets three conditions for the exemption on 31 December 2026. So the Wtta position of every lending bv belongs in the due diligence and in the price.
Building a position in the Netherlands?
We are open to lasting collaboration with international parties that want a permanent position in the Dutch staffing market. We hold those conversations in confidence. Your contact is Robbert Jan de Rooij, at info@exitinflex.com.