DMJ Recruitment, the award winning legal and company secretarial staffing specialist, has today announced plans to scale the core DMJ business, whilst working with Fortes Group to extend its focus into other adjacent professional services areas, such as technology, accountancy and finance, after it secured significant private equity investment.
The London-based business, which was founded in 2007, has been acquired by mid-market private equity house, Omni Partners and will operate as a brand within the Fortes Group, to drive further growth both organically and by acquisition.
Founded by the current shareholders, David Press and Marc Tobias, DMJ Recruitment is one of the largest London-based independent staffing businesses placing legal professionals and company secretaries in private practice and in-house roles.
Operating from offices in London and Dubai, DMJ has a portfolio of blue-chip clients including Aviva, Barclays, PwC, Santander, Vodafone and Tesco, together with an impressive list of UK, Magic Circle, and US law firms. It is currently shortlisted for Recruitment Agency of the Year in the 2022 Recruiter Awards.
Working with their eight-strong senior management team, David and Marc are enacting a strategy to scale the current business, whilst working alongside Omni and Fortes to help develop the Group into a multi-functional professional services staffing group.
The organic and acquisition-led growth will be supported by Omni, whilst David, Marc and the DMJ senior management team will maintain a significant minority stake in the new group, thus ensuring stakeholder alignment.
Advising Marc, David and the senior management team on the sale of DMJ to Omni/Fortes was Newcastle-based RG Corporate Finance led by Partner and Head of Corporate Finance Carl Swansbury, supported by CF Consultant Kerry Hurst and CF Executive Adam Tindale.
Transactional tax and accountancy advice was provided by Stephen Kelly, Mariske Byrnes and Bob Roberts from Beavis Morgan. Legal advice to the shareholders came from David Baverstock and Daniel Jacob from Marriott Harrison LLP.
Omni received financial and tax due diligence advice from RSM, led by partner Jonathan Wade with legal advice from Brabners. Commercial due diligence was undertaken by Armstrong led by Simon Helmsley with debt financing provided by Thincats.
Marc Tobias said: “It has always been our ambition to scale the core DMJ business, whilst helping create a group beyond DMJ’s core specialisms and working with Omni with the creation of the new Group Fortes provides us with the perfect platform to do just that.
“Rather than becoming part of an already established larger group, this route enables us to develop and deliver our own strategy for DMJ, with the support of Omni, whilst bringing into the Fortes Group other like-minded businesses that focus on complimentary areas, such as technology, accountancy and finance and compliance that can support our current and future client base.”
David Press added: “Over many years DMJ has developed a growth mindset culture, in terms of performance, personal growth and inclusivity, and this transaction will create exciting new career opportunities for both current and future staff.”
Charles Gallagher-Powell, Head of Private Equity at Omni Partners LLP, said: “We recognise the real growth potential within DMJ Recruitment. It will be the nucleus of Fortes’ professional services offering, providing a holistic approach to placing the best talent across a range of functional areas and sectors. Marc, David and senior management team have built an exceptional business in DMJ, and we look forward to working closely with them and their team over the coming years to deliver their vision for the future.”
Carl Swansbury, Partner and Head of Corporate Finance at RGCF, said: “The new relationship between DMJ and Omni will lead to Fortes becoming a significant player in the professional services staffing sector. Marc, David and the senior management team of DMJ have built an exceptional business and have an international reputation, which will contribute to attracting other like-minded companies that will benefit from being part of Fortes and share in its ambitions and future successes.
“It has been a pleasure working with David and Marc over the past five years, whilst helping them execute this exciting step change transaction and I am very much looking forward to seeing the business continue to scale and evolve over the coming years.”