Gores Group sued by Adecco

Zurich-based recruitment company Adecco has filed a lawsuit against Gores Technology Services Holdings, an arm of private equity firm Gores Group, according to a filing.

Adecco alleges that the Los Angeles-based firm, which invests in mature and growing businesses, owes it $2.1 million from an acquisition made in 2012.

The sale was made to the Colorado branch of Gores and included two of Adecco’s subsidiaries, telecoms recruitment agency Glotel and business and technology solutions provider Idea Integration.

Adecco claims that as a part of the sale, Gores Technology Services Holdings issued the company with a promissory note, but that neither the amount agreed nor interest on the note was repaid.

According to Adecco, Gores allegedly defaulted on the $2 million note when it failed to make the first $105,000 interest payment that was due in June 2013, and ignored Adecco’s demand for repayment of the original amount.

“To this day, Gores has not paid Adecco any part of the principal amount, interest or default interest due under terms of the promissory note,” the filing said.

Gores Group acquires companies across a range of industries including technology, telecommunications, business services, industrial, healthcare, media and entertainment, and consumer products. The firm manages $2.5 billion in assets, as of March 31 2016, and is currently investing from the $2.1 billion Gores Capital Partners III and $300 million Gores Small Capitalization Partners.

The recruitment company also alleges that because the deal closed on a Saturday Gores agreed to wire Adecco the closing payment on Monday. But the payment was $700,000 short and took several days for Gores to make up the difference, according to the filing.

Adecco has also brought a civil lawsuit against Gores Group relating to issues with the acquisition agreement. This is currently pending in a Florida court, according to the filing.

Counsel for Adecco refused to comment and representatives of Gores did not respond to a request for information.

Adecco is represented by John McCarthy, partner and head of the litigation practice of Smith Gambrell & Russell.