Shoosmiths advises Ellis Recruitment on investment from Mobeus Equity Partners
December, 2023 - Milton Keynes, England
Law firm Shoosmiths has advised the management team of Ellis Recruitment on a significant investment into the business from private equity firm Mobeus Equity Partners.
Founded in 2011, Ellis Recruitment is a specialist IT recruitment consultancy serving the Global Enterprise Resource Planning (‘ERP’) resourcing market.
Following the investment, Mobeus is now a significant minority shareholder in Ellis Recruitment, providing strategic guidance and further funding to the business as it accelerates its growth in Europe and the US.
The funding comes from Mobeus’ latest UK-focused small-cap buyout fund, Mobeus V, and represents its sixth investment.
The Shoosmiths team advising Ellis Recruitment on the sale was led by corporate partner James Foster with support from corporate principal associate Sophie Davies and trainee Robyn Lightowlers. Banking advicewas provided by partner Anna Robson and associate Sham Miah. Compliance, tax and employment advice was provided by partner Simon Barnes, principal associate Andy Graham and senior associate Craig Thomas, respectively.
James Foster, Shoosmiths corporate partner, commented: “We were incredibly pleased to secure this transformational investment deal for our clients.
“Ellis Recruitment has firmly established itself as a leader in technical recruitment and the investment by Mobeus creates exciting opportunities for the business going forward. Lawyers from different areas of Shoosmiths worked to produce the best possible outcome for our clients, leveraging upon our extensive bank experience on these deals."
The management team also praised the work of Shoosmiths. Jason Howlett, CEO of Ellis Recruitment, said: “We’d like to thank James and the team at Shoosmiths for supporting us through this critical deal with sage advice, enabling a smooth investment process that will enable Ellis Recruitment to fulfil its next strategic aims.”
Richard Babington, Mobeus Partner, commented: “We are delighted to be invited to play a key role in the next stage of Ellis’s development. Since its establishment in 2010, Ellis has rapidly grown to become the market leader in Oracle interim resourcing in the UK and is well on the way to achieving the same position in the US. We have formulated an aggressive hiring plan in both geographies to achieve this, with a view to more than trebling our recruitment consultant base over the next five years.”
