InterQuest makes first private equity play

(By Anthony Miller – Monday 27th April 2009 8:30am). AIM-listed ITSA (IT staff agency) InterQuest has announced the first investment for its new private equity arm, IQ Equity. It has taken a 70% stake in a JV with Lanborne Consulting, a Slough-based 6-man ITSA, specialising in the NHS and public sector recruitment markets.

When I met the InterQuest team last month (see Interquest update), executive chairman Gary Ashford told me he wanted to set up half-a-dozen such ventures over the next couple of years. The ITSA market is still hugely fragmented despite the clean-out after the last downturn, and I don’t doubt there’ll be other ‘Lanbornes’ out there that would be keen to ride on InterQuest’s coat-tails. By the way, InterQuest’s CEO, Ross Eades stepped back to a non-exec role a couple of weeks ago.

We’ll have more to say about the state of the UK private equity market on UKHotViews tomorrow. TechMarketView subscription service clients will get the detail in our forthcoming IndustryViews Private Equity quarterly review.