Recruiters supplying recruitment process outsource companies Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS) and Capital Consulting have little to fear following AMS's acquisition of Capital Consulting.

David Spence, AMS's global head of procurement, told Recruiter that any concerns that the number of suppliers would be cut, and margins slashed following the acquisition, were ill-founded.

Spence said that there was no question of reducing the number of agencies used. "If we use a series of recruiters to supply a certain client we are not going to reduce the size of the supplier list because we have made a commitment to both our clients and our suppliers," he explained.

At present Spence said that AMS has 2,138 recruitment suppliers globally, and Capital Consulting 802.

At least 700 of Capital's recruitment suppliers were also on AMS's supplier list, said Spence. However, despite this overlap, recruiters would remain on their existing contracts "probably for at least two years" until the two organisations had properly merged into one.

After this, Spence said that he expected some rationalisation of supplier lists. "It will make sense that we have one sole contract across our organisation," he said.

However, Spence said that far from reducing the number of recruitment suppliers, the acquisition offered the prospect of bringing more suppliers on board in line with growth in the company's client base. "The reason for this is predominantly geographical," he said, explaining that the company preferred to use recruiters specialising in specific geographical areas.

Spence also denied that the bigger combined company would use its market position to slash agency margins.

"No, not at all," he said, explaining that although there was an overarching framework agreement between AMS and its suppliers, the actual margin was agreed between AMS, the agency and each individual client.

"We always look for competitive suppliers, of course, but cost is not the only driver," explained Spence.

He said that small agencies remained very much part of AMS's plans. "We look to supply clients with the best possible candidates, and often it is boutique firms who provide this.

"At the end of the day we engage separately with them because they provide the candidates which our clients need, and that need hasn't gone away."