Consolidation around executive search firms is set to pick up pace as the new year kicks off, according to new internal data from Hunt Scanlon Ventures. HSV managing director, Drew Seaman, goes inside the firm’s latest deal and takes a closer look at rising M&A activity across the human capital landscape.
Since the presidential election season ended in November there have been intensifying discussions among executive search firm leaders about whether now is the time to jump into the M&A game
Many founders who missed the deal window when the industry hit its post-Covid peak in 2022 are now jockeying for position as most market indicators point to this being a banner year for mergers and acquisitions across the space.
One indicator, the latest EY Merger Monthly – a snapshot of U.S. M&A data and key insights – reveals that the deal market is rapidly improving. The report notes that dealmaking in 2025 is “poised to surge” driven by President Trump’s pro-business agenda, the reduced cost of debt, and AI adoption.
According the internal market research data from Hunt Scanlon Ventures, 2025 will set the stage for a five-year ‘peak period’ for consolidation among executive search firms.
Pools of Buyers
“We are not only seeing this in our internal private data,” said HSV managing director Drew Seaman, “but we are seeing it in the transaction flow that we are currently managing through our pipeline.”
The proliferation in dealmaking, according to Mr. Seaman, is hitting a crescendo.
“So much of M&A is wrapped around market sentiment and how founders feel about their current and future growth prospects,” he said. “With a challenging 18-month period behind us, every recruitment leader is now focused on getting back to business and pushing forward growth plans,” he said.
“For many of our sell-side clients, that means lining up strategic buyers or pushing into the world of private equity to identify buy-side pools of investors,” he noted. “We are having great success on both fronts.”
Scale & Efficiency
According to Mr. Seaman, achieving scale and efficiency are key consolidation drivers across the space. In executive search, he said, there is plenty of room for consolidation, scale and efficiency. “For the boutiques, it means finding partners here or globally.”
“The recruiting industry trails other professional services sectors by a long shot when it comes to consolidation,” Mr. Seaman said. “We believe the period of 2025 through 2030 will be a game changing era for executive search. It is long overdue.”
There is a confluence of levers driving the consolidation activity, said Mr. Seaman. “We are in a recovering economic environment and whether you believe in Donald Trump or not the fact is the environment is exciting and fast-moving. More and more businesses are being pulled into the vortex.”
Noteworthy Transaction
A stable economic climate, if we can achieve it, said Mr. Seaman, will foster moderate to strong growth, lower interest rates, and infuse more readily available capital to create a healthy environment for M&A transactions. “As we lower the risk, deal activity, we believe, will pick up pace,” he said.
To that end, Mr. Seaman and his team closed one of the firm’s more noteworthy transactions as the new year begins, merging TalentoHC, a full service human capital solutions provider headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, with The PeterSan Group and PeterSan Legal Staffing based in New York City.
Hunt Scanlon Ventures, in what has become a unique arrangement for the firm, served as a strategic advisor to both companies.
“This exciting partnership unites PeterSan’s deep expertise in legal recruiting with TalentoHC’s innovative customer experience model and comprehensive human capital services,” said TalentoHC CEO Juan Gaitan.
Over three decades, The PeterSan Group has developed into a thriving team of 24 professionals specializing in executive, management, professional, legal staffing, and interim legal placements for Fortune 500 companies, Am Law 200 firms, and boutique firms.
Heightened Interest
For TalentoHC – a minority business enterprise recently named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S. – “this acquisition creates a significant new growth lane,” said Scott A. Scanlon, an HSV founding partner who worked alongside Mr. Seaman on the deal. “This transaction brings together The PeterSan Group’s decades-long expertise in legal recruitment with TalentoHC’s broad human capital solutions,” he said.
Mr. Seaman said the legal services sector is emerging as a dominant growth vertical, making legal recruiting ripe for consolidation and further M&A activity.
“Private equity is demonstrating heightened interest in this space,” he said, “as PE investors seek to establish platform acquisitions to anchor their planned consolidation strategies cross-industry.”
Strategic buyers, said Mr. Scanlon, have also been monitoring the legal recruiting space “as a potential way to grow revenue and accelerate margins” while avoiding client off-limits conflicts that naturally arise as search firms expand. “Legal recruiting is highly attractive by the ‘recession-resistant’ nature of the business and the high production rates of legal recruiters,” he said.
“This transaction is a big win for TalentoHC,” noted Mr. Scanlon.
Article By
Drew Seaman
Drew Seaman is a Managing Director at Hunt Scanlon Ventures. He is responsible for co-managing the firm’s investment portfolio of executive search, talent acquisition, private equity, and investment firms. In addition to sourcing new opportunities and managing the firm’s current investments, Drew leads the technical aspects of client engagements, including valuation and financial analysis and the preparation of investment marketing materials.
Drew began his career in wealth management before joining BMO Capital Markets as an Investment Banking Associate in the Financial Institutions Group. Drew assisted with transaction execution and prepared comprehensive valuation and financial analyses for clients in the specialty finance, asset and wealth management, and insurance sectors.
Drew earned a B.A. in Economics from DePauw University, where he was quarterback on the varsity football team. He earned his M.B.A. with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from NYU’s Stern School of Business. Connect with Drew.
