Recruitment merger sees Yorkshire finance specialist expand nationally

FDYL, the Yorkshire-based financial consultancy and recruitment specialist, has completed a joint venture agreement with Birmingham-based Woodrow Mercer.

The venture is set to expand FDYL’s financial leadership recruitment offering nationally as a division of Woodrow Mercer Finance.

As well as its Leeds head office, the business also has offices in Sheffield, Birmingham and London.

£12m turnover Woodrow Mercer specialises in IT, public sector and e-learning recruitment, and has chosen to partner with FDYL to launch its new senior financial recruitment division.

FDYL has grown over recent years from providing portfolio finance directors and financial controllers to become a boutique search and selection consultancy for full-time interims and permanent FDs and FCs.

FDYL will continue to run its own consultancy arm in support of Woodrow Mercer Finance, and the joint venture will see the firm expand immediately to operate offices in London and Birmingham, as well as a 10-desk base in Leeds city centre and its existing base in Sheffield.

The deal will see James Roach join the board, alongside FDYL directors Neil Muffitt, Mark Raven and Andrew Hill. Dan Ostrowski of Woodrow Mercer will also join the board of the new business, which will be based in Leeds.

Neil Muffitt, FDYL managing director, said: “The senior financial recruitment specialism is very attractive to the marketplace and with the national reach and network of existing client relationships, this joint venture makes perfect sense for both businesses.

“We are able to retain the personal involvement and service that our very loyal client base in the North expects, but we will also gain resources and personnel to broaden our reach to cover the whole UK immediately.

“Overnight, we have gained access to the back office systems and economies of scale of a national recruiter.”

Initially with a team of seven consultants and administrators across the three UK offices, FDYL and Woodrow Mercer aim to grow rapidly through the two firms’ combined base of active blue chip clients.

Dan Ostrowski of Woodrow Mercer Finance, added: “We have been looking to set up a finance division for some time and were immediately attracted by the very consultative and strategic services offered by this well established firm.

“The senior team are all finance directors, the ethos of ‘FDs recruiting FDs’ resonates well with the market, and is a demonstrable difference to most of the recruiters in the finance sector.

“It makes a great deal of sense to take that offering to our clients, and to the other locations in which we operate, and take on the financial recruitment market with a fresh perspective and a proven and growing team in place.”

FDYL and Woodrow Mercer Finance’s head office will be at 36 Park Cross Street, in the centre of Leeds, where a team of seven staff will initially be based.