The Budapest-based Prohuman group has further strengthened its CEE operations spanning through seven countries by acquiring Serbia’s CityScope Group.
The acquisition of CityScope Group was officially announced at an event hosted in Belgrade, on May 10, 2023, by Sándor Zakor, a co-founder and co-owner of Prohuman Group, who was joined by Ivana Milošević, founder and CEO of CityScope. Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó and Serbia’s Minister of Interior and Foreign Trade Tomislav Momirović, respectively, also took the stage at the event.
International Expansion
Founded and currently owned by Hungarian executives, Prohuman has grown over the past 20 years from a small Budapest-based firm to become a major HR service provider. The group employs 20,000 people daily and provides complex HR services to more than 1,000 corporate clients. Prohuman is already one of the top five service providers in Romania and Slovenia, and it also has a significant presence in Germany, Austria, and Croatia; while in Serbia, the acquisition of HR service provider CityScope is expected to boost the market position of the firm.
Prohuman aims to become the leading HR service provider in the CEE region by 2024, and the acquisition of CityScope is also a key element to the group’s plans, according to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal. The Serbian company is already a major player in HR services in its home country, and Prohuman’s international experience and broad international client base will further strengthen its position.
CityScope has a diverse and deep portfolio, with clients in almost all business segments, from the world’s largest multinational companies to the most successful Serbian enterprises. The transaction is expected to strengthen the company and propel it among the top three HR service providers in Serbia in the near future. Upon completion of the transaction, CityScope founder Ivana Milošević will continue to manage the company as a minority shareholder and as CEO.
“For many years, Prohuman Group has proven in Europe’s most challenging labor markets that it leaves no stone unturned to solve its clients’ staffing needs and HR problems. Prohuman, the market leader in Hungary, has become a leading HR services group in CEE over the past decade, and we have worked hard to achieve this every day. To achieve growth and success in new markets, we need strong and motivated local allies. A team that is competent, committed, motivated, and hungry for success. I am convinced that we have found that partner in Serbia in the CityScope team” emphasized Sándor Zakor, a founding owner of Prohuman Group.
Ivana Milošević, CEO of CityScope, partner of Prohuman highlighted, “Our partnership with the Prohuman Group is a significant milestone for both CityScope and our clients. We are thrilled to work with the Prohuman Group in providing a wide range of tailored services that create added value for our clients in Serbia and the wider region. Our shared values and commitment to business ethics, combined with our expertise in human resources, will enable us to become one of the leading regional HR service providers.
“We are eager to join forces with the Prohuman Group and continue to lead the setting of new standards for the industry as a whole” said Ivana Milošević, Managing Director of CityScope which has just become a member of Prohuman Group,” she added.
Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, noted, “It is excellent news that Prohuman has decided to enter the Serbian market. We are delighted that Prohuman has been able to acquire one of the most important Serbian HR services companies, thus strengthening the community of Hungarian investors present in Serbia.”
The minister added, “There is a strategic cooperation and partnership between the two countries. There are no outstanding political issues between the two nations – on the other hand, there is record-breaking trade, an increasingly dynamic investor community, and a continuously growing Hungarian economy.”
Szijjártó stressed that Prohuman’s entry into the Serbian market makes it possible that the existing broad cooperation between the two countries can now be extended to the labor market sector.
Tomislav Momirović, the Minister of Internal and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Serbia speaking at the opening of the event, welcomed the fact that “even in these difficult times” this cooperation could be achieved with the integration of Serbian and Hungarian companies.
He underlined that the cooperation fits into the dynamics of the relationship between the two countries, stressing that “the integration of the two companies is a clear example of the direction in which our economic relations should be heading. In previous years, more than a billion euros of investment has come from Hungary.”
The minister added, “We like to say that our government is ‘business-friendly’ and forward-looking. Congratulations on this business success, and on behalf of the Serbian government, I would like to say that we are always open and ready to support Hungarian companies, and we view them in Serbia as if they were our own domestic companies.”
Source: bbj
