Edenred buys majority stake in GOintegro

GOintegro offers a broad range of engagement solutions, designed to help companies enhance their organizational culture and be an employer of choice in attracting and retaining talents.

The acquisition of GOintegro is part of Edenred’s strategy to become the everyday platform for people at work, notably by extending the scope of its portfolio. Through the integration of GOintegro’s modular employee-engagement platform, Edenred broadens its offering and strengthens its lead in the Latin America's employee benefits market, Edenred said in a statement.

Founded in 2002, GOintegro combines superior technological innovation with HR expertise to increase employee engagement at work through services such as savings & discounts, reward & recognition programs, wellbeing content or internal communication and pulse surveys. GOintegro provides these solutions through a unique multi-module platform available in seven Latin American countries. GOintegro’s 130 employees serve more than 1.2 million users and 500 clients, including large companies such as Bayer, General Electric, HP and PepsiCo.

Edenred has successfully extended its portfolio into non-meal and food benefits over the years and developed employee savings and benefits management platforms in 12 countries, including flagship solutions such as ProwebCE in France, Ekivita in Belgium, and Easywelfare in Italy.

The acquisition of GOintegro marks a new step forward in the rollout of Edenred’s strategy, as it helps the Group accelerate the expansion of its Employee Benefits offer in Latin America’s rewards and recognition and well-being markets.

The transaction is subject to the approval of the Brazilian competition authority and is expected to close by June 2023.

Arnaud Erulin, CEO of employee benefits, at Edenred, said: “Through the acquisition of GOintegro, Edenred is taking a new step forward in the deployment of its Beyond22-25 strategy. The combination of Edenred’s unrivaled expertise in employee benefits and GOintegro’s leadership in employee engagement in Latin America creates a leader in the region with strong growth ambitions”

For his part, German Dyzenchauz, GOintegro’s CEO, said: “We are extremely proud to join Edenred, as we share the same human values and vision of being the everyday platform for people at work. We see amazing synergies between Edenred’s unique products and footprint in Latin America and our world-class employee engagement platform which will accelerate our impact and growth in the coming months and years.”

Law firm Bruchou & Funes de Rioja acted as legal counsel to the main shareholders of the GOintegro group and Cuatrecasas (in Barcelona) acted as legal counsel to Edenred in the negotiations leading to the sale of 75% of the capital stock of Integro Worldwide and its subsidiaries.

In addition to the founders of GOintegro, the sellers are private equity funds Riverwood Capital and Kazek. Endeavor Global also agreed to sell its interest in the holding company.

Bruchou & Funes de Rioja advised GOintegro's main shareholders with a team led by partner Estanislao Olmos and associate Sofía Benegas Lynch.

Cuatrecasas advised Edenred with a team led by partner Pere Kirchner and associate Javier García Peris.

Marval O'Farrel Mairal advised Riverwood Capital and Kazek with the team led by partner Hernán Slemenson and associate Teodoro M. Rodríguez Cáceres.

Both Estanislao H. Olmos (Bruchou) and Hernán Slemenson (Marval), respectively, have assisted GOintegro's founders and private equity funds since GOintegro's inception in 2012.