This is a story about a young recruitment entrepreneur selling his first business, whilst also building two other recruitment brands. Or maybe it’s not. Perhaps it’s a story about a fire sale of the last profitable remnants of a distrusted brand, made without choice to cut losses and pay debts. How you view it depends on a number of things; who you believe, how you judge success, where you work, and who you like (or did once).
I am of course referring to something most of you have been gossiping about for at least three weeks – the “sale” of Lynx Recruitment to Stellar Recruitment. I hate the use of inverted commas, but writing this blog, I just can’t help myself. When so many terms don’t match the reality I have no choice. For those who don’t know, Stellar have almost completed the partial acquisition of Pete Stewart‘s business Lynx. Partial in that Stellar do not seem to want the brand, the office, the website. the vehicles, the big alloy wheels, or the leader. What they appear to want is a sizeable book of blue collar temp business, and the Consultants who generated it. In essence, this is an asset sale. This was confirmed three days ago, when Lynx advertised two recruitment roles for themselves on SEEK. It would appear that after failing to sell in its entirety, Lynx purrs on – as a perm-only recruitment firm.
The motivation behind this, I do not know. Speculation is rife. Why would a firm (which is currently in its smallest iteration since just after launch) sell its recurring revenue in 2025? Its value is comparatively tiny versus Lynx in its pomp. Cue people saying that a loud IRD knock on the door has forced Pete’s hand. Or perhaps he’s just had enough of it and wants to focus on the simpler perm business, and his two other brands (more on that later). I don’t know the answer so let’s all speculate over a beer in the pub. I also don’t know what he sold for, so don’t ask.
The sale has also ruffled a few feathers. It is alleged that Pete had a handshake agreement to sell to Warwick Neutze of Enterprise, only to renege on this. Warwick, a man who once famously described Jonathan Rice as a “leech on the industry” and dates his recruitment style to the cretaceous period, is apparently fuming. So much so that Pete has backed out of the next RCSA hoedown for fear of being lynched. Allegedly.
Lynx were courting at least one other firm before Stellar got wind of the opportunity. Stellar, a firm seemingly not afraid of making a powerplay, swept in and did the deal. I say “did the deal“, but I’m not sure if it’s even done just yet. I know the staff have transferred across, but last I heard, Pete decided that Bali was a better place to get this across the line than Christchurch in winter time. Now is Pete over there positioning himself as a failed businessman forced to sell his contractors on the cheap, or is he the successful entrepreneur celebrating the first of many profitable exits? The answer to that lies in the opening paragraph of this blog.
So what next? At Consultant level, Stellar are a good business to be purchased by. They might not offer “the ride” that Lynx have historically provided, but it’s a good place to be. Pete Stewart might be able to grow a perm business, and has two other business in Jobsy and Pink Admin to be thinking about. I’ve always believed Jobsy will have it tough. Launching an IT recruitment business right now, with a founder who most definitely isn’t an IT recruiter is really f*cking difficult. Great IT recruitment leaders in established businesses are having to make very hard decisions right now. I would not want to be the upstart. As for Pink Admin…I really don’t know what to say (which is very rare). Check them out. It’s certainly an interesting proposition. Companies Office also tells me that Pete registered “Recruitment Brands Limited” on 22nd April 2025. Pete’s even changed his LinkedIn URL to reflect this. Rumour has it that this will be his vehicle to grow and sell recruitment firms. Good luck to him, although the question remains; does selling your staff and contractors actually count as selling a business?
^SW
