I have many strange hobbies. I collect knives. I train and teach Aikido. I collect gold and silver bullion. And I stay up until the wee hours watching documentaries on serial killers, fraudsters, forgotten weapons, and unsolved mysteries. Perhaps strangest of all is my addiction to the Companies Office website. I still marvel at the ability of an average Joe to, after a few clicks, see who owns what company, what their shareholding is, and with a bit more digging, how big and flash their house is. What a time to be alive. It was during one of these sessions that I found myself idly looking at the shareholding split of Emergent. Expecting to see Carmen Bailey and Diane Foreman, I was staggered to see something quite different. Staggered, because when a recruitment firm is sold, someone typically spills the beans – often before the sale is even completed. Not so on this occasion. Documents filed show that the transfer of ownership happened on the 15th of last month, and either not many know, or no one tells me because you don’t like how I write about these things.
So who bought it?
Well if you can stay off the Companies Office website for 2 minutes, I’ll give you a few clues. Emergent was bought by a very large NZ- based recruitment group. This group have multiple brands, working across business support, blue collar, and professional services recruitment. They previously acquired a “premier executive recruiter to the Public Sector” based in Wellington, and have offices across New Zealand, including Hamilton. They also semi-recently acquired a well known Executive Search firm. More recently, they have also pushed into healthcare recruitment.
So the Accordant Group right?
Wrong. Although the above description fits nicely with the actions of Cherrybomb et al, it actually applies to another firm. A firm who have arguably been the most acquisitive in the industry. A firm that you might not think about that often. The firm is…drum roll please…Alpha Recruitment! Yes, those guys. Although not front and centre, Alpha have acquired, invested in, or launched the following brands and businesses:
- Triangle
- Project Plus
- Healthwise Personnel
- Project Plus
- Source HR
- The Johnson Group
- Farrow Jamieson (who in turn own Sheffield in the South Island)
- Asset Recruitment
- Staffwise
- Mana Mahi
…and now
- Emergent
I must admit, looking this list I saw a few surprises. I knew they had bought The Johnson Group, but had also forgotten that fact. Mana Mahi was new to me (fun fact – I’ve placed both Junelle and Angela in previous roles), and I don’t think I actually realised that they have 50% (or a smidge under) of Farrow Jamieson. Where have I been?! It would seem that MD and majority owner of Alpha Colin Mathieson has balls the size of cantaloupes. Not only does the man have over ten spinning plates, he’s not afraid to get the chequebook out in tough markets. Like Lynxgate, I have no idea what he paid for Emergent, but it is a brand as old and established as recruitment can be now OCG have gone. It’s not worth what it once was (none of us are), but has produced some fantastic recruiters over the years with a client list to die for. Will this sale see Carmen (and perhaps Jane) exit? Or will they lean back into exec recruitment and grow this team under more favourable future market conditions? Only time, or a phone call from Carmen, will tell.
Anyway, thought this was interesting enough to give Robert Walters/Stuart Nash a “get out of jail”…for now. Enjoy your weekend.
^SW
