Baird builds recruitment portfolio

A recruiter that supplies IT staff to the financial services sector has been bought by its management.

London-based Aston Carter was sold to a team led by its managing director and co-founder Sean Zimdahl.

He was joined in the buy-out by fellow directors Stuart Hurwitz, Brent Harris and Justin Porritt. The team was backed by Baird Capital Partners Europe, a mid-market private equity firm, which has taken a majority shareholding following its £13 million investment.

Baird’s funding, which was managed by Chris Harper and James Benfield, was bolstered by a loan from Barclays.

Aston Carter has offices in Stockholm, Dublin, Brussels and Singapore. In the year to March 2007, it generated revenues of £78 million and served clients such as Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch, KPMG and Ernst & Young. The company was established in 1997 and today employs 170 people.

Baird has experience in the recruitment sector following its investments in Capital Consulting, an outsourcing specialist; Public Recruitment Group, a public sector recruiter; and Teams BS, which sources temporary staff.

Marc Barber

Marc Barber

Marc was editor of GrowthBusiness from 2006 to 2010. He specialised in writing about entrepreneurs, private equity and venture capital, mid-market M&A, small caps and high-growth businesses.

Related Topics

Recruitment