M&A activity in the sector continues to be resilient despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, as Q2 2026 saw 17 UK recruitment and workforce solutions deals, which is broadly in line with the quarterly average over the last twelve months. Despite being slightly lower than the 19 transactions announced in Q1, Q2 saw another landmark transaction in Korn Ferry’s $1.1bn acquisition of OMERS-backed Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS).

This deal shows that buyers still value scaled, technology-enabled workforce solutions platforms with global reach, deep client relationships and recurring revenue characteristics. It also points to increasing merging of recruitment, workforce solutions and consulting, as buyers look to broaden their capabilities across talent advisory, outsourcing and technology-led delivery.

Like the previous quarter, M&A activity in Q2 was mainly driven by trade and private equity-backed trade deals. Private equity (PE) transactions were primarily add-on acquisitions for existing portfolio companies rather than new platform investments.

The key themes shaping UK recruitment and workforce solutions M&A in Q2 2026

• Steady deal volume supported by a landmark transaction - Korn Ferry’s $1.1bn acquisition of AMS in June 2026 follows Southfield Capital’s investment in Metric Search in the previous quarter and Advent’s $1.3bn investment in Heidrick and Struggles in Q4 2025. Together, these represent significant businesses at the higher quality end of the value chain.
• New platform PE deals remain scarce, while add-on activity stayed robust - There were four new platform PE deals in Q2 2026, compared to six in the previous quarter. Key deals included continued sector-focused investment from Meraki Capital and, for add-ons, the acquisition of Choice Teachers by Three Hills Capital Partners-backed Operam Education Group. Add-on activity is increasingly capability-led. Buyers are using acquisitions to broaden exposure to specialist niches, new geographies, on-demand talent, HR transformation, payroll technology and managed workforce solutions.
• M&A activity spread across industry verticals - Q2 saw continued momentum in the STEM/construction sector and an increase in recruitment search platform deals.
• Continued cross-border activity - Overseas interest in UK firms, and UK firms expanding overseas, continued to build on the uptick seen in the previous quarter. Sustained US buyer appetite (particularly evidenced by the Korn Ferry acquisition) suggests overseas investors still see segments of the UK market offering high quality assets, strategic growth opportunities and an attractive entry point for broader expansion.

Korn Ferry’s $1.1bn acquisition of AMS

In June 2026, consulting business Korn Ferry acquired UK-headquartered AMS for an estimated $1.1bn from Canadian PE fund OMERS. AMS was reported to have $650m annual fees and forward visibility over $1.5bn contracted fees, highlighting the quality of recurring or repeating revenues.

The acquisition is a significant strategic expansion for Korn Ferry. Combining AMS’ scale in recruitment process outsourcing, early careers focus and skills development capabilities with its existing executive search and leadership consulting business supports its move towards becoming a full-spectrum workforce solutions provider.

This landmark transaction is intended to create a global talent and organisational consulting leader with more than 16,000 staff and operations across over 120 countries. It highlights continued buyer appetite for scaled, technology-enabled workforce solutions platforms. Adjusted EBITDA was estimated at $100m, expected to increase to $140m in the first year post-acquisition.

Trade vs PE activity

Trade buyers surpassed PE again as the dominant exit route in Q2. They accounted for eight transactions (47%) compared to five by PE investors (29%). The wider trend across the PE industry for focusing on add-ons continued, with 80% of PE deals in Q2 falling into this category (compared to 75% in Q1 2026 and 70% in 2025).

The deal type split for Q2 2026 was similar to Q1. The main difference was that “Other” deals increased due to debt-funded deals and one acquisition by a private individual. The vast majority of sellers are still privately owned, founder-led businesses. In fact, AMS’ sale to Korn Ferry represented the only PE-backed exit of the quarter.

PE investors are generally focusing on driving value creation within portfolio companies rather than pursuing exits in the sector. With the successful notable exceptions of BGF (from Metric Search) in Q1 and OMERS (from AMS) in Q2, we expect exit activity to build into 2027 as market sentiment improves.

US buyers continue to invest in the UK market

Overseas buyer interest typically varies by quarter. While recent quarterly activity is lower than the high of seven deals recorded in Q2 2025, three overseas investors made acquisitions in the first two quarters of 2026. In Q2 2026 these were all deals by US acquirers, following two US and one French in Q1 2026.

In addition to the US-listed Korn Ferry acquisition, deals also included US PE add-on deals.

• Apollo Global Management-backed OEG’s acquisition of Hybrid Resource Management, a strategic move to broaden its service offering.
• BayPine-backed Harbor Global’s acquisition of CE Global Partners, which added more specialist delivery expertise in HR, payroll transformation and people-process change. This is part of Harbor Global’s strategy to deepen its ability to support law firms and legal teams across the full arc of workforce modernisation, as well as to expand into the UK.

This theme is likely to continue into Q3, as shown by the recent acquisition by French-owned Sellick Partnership (via Samsic Group) of a majority shareholding in Gleeson Recruitment Group in August.

Continued investment in overseas assets acquired by UK buyers

Q2 saw three transactions involving UK investment in overseas workforce solutions businesses in line with the three transactions in the previous quarter. These included:

• Apis Partners’ acquisition of Singaporean HR and recruitment platform, BIPO Service.
• Socially Recruited’s acquisition of US-based social media recruitment platform, Socialjobs.
• Meraki Capital’s acquisition of a portfolio of Hays’ European operations, including Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Luxembourg, Romania and Sweden.

Key verticals – activity spread across a variety of sectors

Transactions in Q2 were spread across a wider range of sectors than in Q1, when elevated engineering and construction deal volumes were largely driven by Meraki Capital’s acquisition activity. After completing five deals in Q1 2026, Meraki made a further UK add-on acquisition in this vertical, with its purchase of Ritepeople in April 2026 (together with the Hays European operations noted above).

Other key segments were professional services, multi-sector, tech-led recruitment platforms and education. Deal volumes in each of these areas are currently proportionally comparable to 2025. The key diversified, multi-sector transactions were Korn Ferry’s acquisition of AMS and Meraki Capital’s acquisition of Hays’ European operations. Continued activity in the recruitment platform/software vertical was made up of three seed funding deals. This includes Inploi’s £3m funding round led by YFM Equity Partners in April 2026.

Wider consulting sector activity

In a wider sector theme, we’re seeing investors place a premium on higher-quality revenue streams. These include:

• Consulting-led services
• Transformation and advisory capabilities
• Senior-level talent solutions
• Statement Of Work (SOW) delivery models
• Tech-enabled delivery
• Premium margins
• Recurring client relationships.

These characteristics are seen as less susceptible to AI-driven disruption, while still offering stronger scalability and greater appeal to prospective buyers.

The Korn Ferry/AMS transaction illustrates the growing convergence between workforce solutions and consulting. Buyers are increasingly seeking platforms that combine people advisory, workforce transformation, technology enablement and specialist delivery capabilities. This is driving many workforce solutions businesses to try and differentiate their services by developing complementary revenue streams and embedding themselves more deeply into their clients' workforce management processes.

In this context, the following broader themes continued to influence the consulting M&A market:

• Consulting sector M&A continued to be active, with a further 41 UK deals in Q2 2026 following 60 UK deals in the previous quarter.
• AI remains a key driver of M&A activity, with buyers prioritising businesses that offer data analytics expertise, automation solutions and AI implementation capabilities.
• The rise of integrated human capital platforms, providing end-to-end support across the workforce lifecycle (as illustrated by the Korn Ferry / AMS and Harbor/CE Global Partners transactions). This approach can strengthen client relationships, open up cross-selling opportunities and drive stronger repeating revenue streams.
• PE is active but selective, with the highest valuations being achieved by firms with a focus on innovative tech-enabled solutions and specialist niches (such as Apis Partners acquisition of BIPO Service in June 2026). Such attributes are increasingly being prioritised over pure revenue growth or geographic expansion.

Notable deals in the wider consulting space include:

• The acquisition by Alpha Financial Markets Consulting (a Bridgepoint portfolio company) of Elgin White in May 2026. This acquisition provided Alpha FMC expertise in platform delivery, especially across Charles River Development on a global basis. RSM’s workforce solutions sector team supported the deal with a suite of due diligence services including finance, tax, HR and technology due diligence.
• Our team also advised LDC on its acquisition of UBDS Group, a fast-growing digital lifecycle and cyber security consultancy business, in June 2026.
• The acquisition by Prescient Healthcare Group (another Bridgepoint portfolio company) of Dolon, a pricing and market access consultancy business for biopharma clients, in March 2026.

What is the outlook for recruitment and workforce solutions M&A in 2026?

Overall, Q2 provides further evidence of resilience in the UK recruitment and workforce solutions M&A market. While buyers remain selective, deal volumes have held up. Strategic trade buyers are continuing to drive activity, while PE interest is being sustained through add-on acquisitions for existing portfolio companies.

Buyer demand is also being shaped by activity across the broader human capital management and consulting sector. Buyers increasingly want differentiated specialists that can form part of integrated human capital platforms to support clients across the full workforce lifecycle, while offering more resilient and higher-margin revenue streams.

Despite ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, our deal services team is currently seeing the strongest pipeline of workforce solutions sector opportunities for some time. This reflects not only the volume of prospects coming to market, but also their quality.

Data quality is also becoming a key focus area, both from an M&A perspective and as businesses seek to refine their own processes through automation and AI tools. As firms embrace digital transformation, those with trusted, well-governed data will be best positioned to drive growth, improve decision-making and create value for shareholders and investors - from front office productivity and placement conversion through to back office optimisation.

Alongside our specialist data analytics and consulting sector team, we’re supporting a growing number of businesses at the earlier stages of deal and data readiness as well as with wider data quality assessments. Given continued buyer caution and rigorous diligence processes being undertaken, careful preparation for exit continues to be a critical factor in deal success.

For more information or to discuss how our deal services team could help realise your business growth ambitions, please contact Jonathan Wade or Michael Wang.

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