Aquent Buys pricejamieson

UK recruitment consultant pricejamieson is to be acquired by Boston-based Aquent. The combined firm will be a global force in the marketing and communications staffing arena and plans to grow its already substantial MR division.

pricejamieson will continue to trade and expand under its current name and remain in its central London location. The company provides recruitment solutions to the digital, media and marketing communications sectors, and has a strong pedigree in the market research sector, having been MrWeb's first client back in 1999 and one of its busiest ever since.

pricejamieson MD and co-owner Andrew Swift told DRNO: 'One of the major things the sale will enable us to do is to expand the activities of the market research division. Aquent is very active in market research recruitment in the US, Asia and Australia , but not, at present, in the UK & Europe. Aquent is keen to use the industry knowledge of our team to help them offer the same specialist services in all their markets.'

Aquent says the acquisition will make it 'the largest single provider of marketing, communications and creative recruitment solutions in any city anywhere in the world'. The deal gives it more than 80 staff in London, with 'expectations to grow to 250'.

Stefan Ciecierski, Aquent's European MD, says the acquisition 'brings together two highly efficient and successful companies from within the UK market', adding that the two have 'extremely complementary' sector focus. Aquent says it intends to continue its growth by means including 'the incorporation of exceptional and highly skilled niche businesses throughout the UK and across Europe into the foreseeable future.'

Swift and pricejamieson co-MD Ann Jamieson will remain in their current roles. Jamieson comments: 'We have always focused on providing the highest possible level of service to both our clients and the candidates we represent and on finding innovative ways of responding to their changing needs. Aquent, with its breadth of services, its global reach and its like-minded approach to providing quality services, is the perfect partner for pricejamieson.'

Aquent operates a global network of 70 offices in 17 countries and has found marketing and communications staff for two-thirds of the Fortune 500 and 90 of the Fortune 100. Last year it placed over 11,000 people at more than 3,000 client companies. In addition to global headquarters in Boston, it has European headquarters in London and Asia Pacific headquarters in Sydney, Australia.

pricejamieson was established in 1982 and has 25 consultants. A pioneer of new media, it launched its web site at www.pricejam.com as early as 1994, and earlier this year was voted a Business Superbrand in YouGov's high profile poll of 1,400 businesspeople (www.superbrands.com/uk ). Aquent has web sites at www.aquent.com and www.aquent.co.uk .

The two firms' current ads on MrWeb can be viewed here:

Aquent
pricejamieson

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.