EMC completes UK / Far East deal

A cross-border buy-out involving businesses in the UK and Far East has been successfully completed by EMC Corporate Finance Ltd.

Two subsidiary companies of Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Pasona Group Inc – Pelham International Ltd of London and Pelham Search Pacific Ltd of Hong Kong – have been sold to Karaboudjan Ltd based in Fulham, South West London.

The $7.1m deal leaves Guy Roberts in the role of MD of both companies which operate as executive search specialists for senior finance professionals in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Mr Roberts had previously headed the Pelham businesses under the Pasona Group umbrella.

EMC chief executive Nik Askaroff, who led the team negotiating the acquisition, said: “The Pelham name is incredibly well-known in the financial services sectors both here and in the Far East. The company has often been voted the leading headhunting firm in the industry.

“I’m sure it will thrive under Guy Roberts’s independent stewardship. I was delighted that Karaboudjan Ltd entrusted the deal negotiations to us. The view persists in some quarters that only the large firms can handle such relatively complex international deals. That is most definitely not the case as we have been able to show here and in many other much larger and more complicated sales and acquisitions in which we have been involved.”

In the first quarter of 2008, EMC has advised on or completed 14 major deals, making it one of the corporate finance boutique’s busiest ever starts to a year.