EXCLUSIVE: Technical and public sector recruitment company Eden Brown will launch an equity scheme for its employees this summer.

The move to share the wealth with the company's 250-plus employees follows the firm's acquisition earlier this month by investment fund Hamilton Bradshaw Human Capital (HBHC). "This is one of the things this change enables me to do," said Eden Brown chief executive Ian Wolter. "We're making equity available to everyone in the company. We will be rolling out the staff equity scheme within the next few weeks."

When the acquisition was revealed on 11 June, it was also announced that Hamilton Bradshaw will be seeking to build its portfolio further. Speaking exclusively to Recruiter, Wolter said that social care and rail are two sectors of immediate interest.

Before agreeing the acquisition of his company by Hamilton Bradshaw, Wolter said that he had looked at "quite a lot" of private equity houses with whom to do a deal. However, most did not understand Eden Brown's distinct division, the vendor management services company Matrix Managed Services. In contrast, Wolter pointed out, HBHC's chairman, James Caan, fully understood because he had founded Alexander Mann, which has emerged as one of the most successful vendor management companies.

The financial terms of the deal have not been revealed, but Wolter said that the real benefit will be seen in terms of a newly refreshed Eden Brown board, with a dynamic boost from HBHC. "The best thing about the deal is the talent on the team," he said. "We couldn't home-grow the talent for the next phase of growth."

Wolter announced the deal to his staff and fielded questions on the company intranet. The question uppermost in most employees' minds was if the company culture would change. "The Eden Brown culture has been changing and evolving anyway" due to internal growth and development, Wolter said.

While Wolter's responsibilities will expand in his new role as CEO of HBHC, he said he was committed to Eden Brown. "In no way am I finished yet," he added.