Switzerland’s Adia : Manpower Inc., Rival Holding Merger Talks

A Swiss company that operates the world’s second-largest temporary employment firm said Thursday that it is holding talks with No. 1 Manpower Inc. about a possible combination with the Milwaukee firm.

However, Adia S.A., which operates Adia Services in Menlo Park, Calif., would make no further comment, and a spokeswoman for Manpower said her firm also had nothing to say on the subject. Mitchell S. Fromstein, Manpower’s president and chief executive, was said to be in New York and unavailable.

Manpower has been searching for alternatives to a $75-a-share tender offer Aug. 4 by Blue Arrow, a much smaller British temporary help company. During the weekend, Manpower’s directors rejected the Blue Arrow bid as inadequate.

Manpower’s stock closed Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange at $78 a share, down 50 cents. Adia rose $1.25 on the over-the-counter market to $29.75.

The disclosure about the talks with Adia came one day after Manpower said it was in negotiations with Blue Arrow and other unidentified companies about a possible merger. A spokeswoman for Blue Arrow in New York said Thursday that there were no new developments.

An Adia official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters news service that his firm’s talks with Manpower had begun “very recently” and were continuing. “We certainly could be interested, but it depends on many things and it is far too early to see what the result would be.”

Walter Macauley, president and chief executive of Adia’s California unit, could not be reached for comment.

Adia Services, which is 70%-owned by its Swiss parent, operated about 296 offices in the United States at the end of 1986. The U.S. firm, which had 1986 revenue of $243.5 million, has expanded its U.S. operations rapidly, especially in the past year, when it snapped up eight U.S. companies, including Texas-based Personnel Finders; Contemporaries Inc. of Washington and Account On Us in Southern California.

Separately, Manpower said a suit filed against the company and its directors for alleged breach of fiduciary duties--in connection with its rejection of the Blue Arrow offer--is “without merit.” The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will contest the suit, which was filed in Delaware Chancery Court.