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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Rethink Group bolsters its talent management offering with the acquisition of Consort Group

Recruitment and Talent Management (TM) specialist, Rethink Group has acquired TM and RPO business, Consort Group, in a move which will significantly expand its capability. The combined business is expected to generate revenues in excess of £130M in 2015 and will employ over 200 people globally

Recruitment and Talent Management (TM) specialist, Rethink Group has acquired TM and RPO business, Consort Group, in a move which will significantly expand its capability.  The combined business is expected to generate revenues in excess of £130M in 2015 and will employ over 200 people globally.

The strategic acquisition of Consort will significantly boost Rethink’s TM service offering – which includes employer branding & attraction, talent pooling & management, on boarding, performance management, managed services & RPO solutions - and complement its global recruitment division. Consort’s specialism in the financial services and retail arenas will extend Rethink’s penetration in these areas, and also allow it to provide Consort’s RPO and TM offerings to its existing client base.

BGF (Business Growth Fund), the UK’s largest provider of growth capital, has invested £2.5m in Rethink to facilitate this acquisition and anticipates further funding to support Rethink’s plans for organic growth and future selective acquisitions - a number of which have already been identified.

Iain Blair, Managing Director of Rethink Talent Management comments:

“We’ve had a relationship with Consort for over a year and I’m delighted that they have now joined the Rethink Group. It is absolutely clear that we have a shared vision and commitment to assisting organisations with their talent management needs and I strongly believe that the acquisition will add huge value to the range of services we can offer.  We look forward to welcoming the new team to Rethink Group.”

Graeme Paxton, Managing Director of Consort Group comments:

“We have spent a long term at Consort developing a robust talent management model and suite of offerings since our inception in 2008. As part of Rethink Group we will be able to build on this on a much larger scale and increase the number and types of organisations we offer our services to. I’m looking forward to scaling up our unique approach to talent management in the coming months and increasing its credibility as part of Rethink Group”.

Commenting on the acquisition, Stephen Wright, CEO of Rethink Group said:

“The newly enlarged Rethink Group now has greater critical mass in the TM sector where we are seeing significant and exciting growth prospects. Having delisted from AIM, we were keen to engage with an equity investor that could allow us to retain control of our business, but also provide us with the necessary capital for expansion of the Group, of which Consort is the first acquisition under our new strategy. Recruitment and TM is very much a people orientated business and I think this chimes with the BGF approach to investing.  We were attracted by BGF’s ability to make follow-on investments and their capacity to support Rethink Group more broadly as a private company.”

Joe Wilson, BGF said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to back Rethink in the continued evolution of its business model from an open market recruitment business to a leading talent management firm. What a funder wants to see in any potential acquisition is a strong cultural fit, clear financial rationale and a shared vision for growth. Rethink’s acquisition of Consort has all of these qualities and we are delighted to be part of the future growth story of the enlarged group.”