AIM-listed headhunter Imprint Search and Selection has announced plans to acquire financial recruiter ECHM Group for £14m.

It has also announced a proposed placing to raise £10m to help fund the deal, which is the company’s first acquisition since its flotation in 2001.

Imprint said it would pay an initial consideration of £6m, with a further £8m payable in 2006 “dependent on the profitability of ECHM in the two years ending 31 December 2005”.

ECHM – which was formed in July last year as the result of a merger of financial recruitment firms Executive Connections and Hitchenor Maher – had a net fee income of £7.1m in the nine months to 30 September 2004. Its total headcount is 132, including 76 fee earners, and it has offices in London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Dublin and Amsterdam.

Imprint chairman Pierce Casey said the acquisition would “increase the size of our operations significantly in terms of fee earners, market penetration and geographical coverage, while at the same time enhancing shareholder value”.