Hot on the heels of OPD, IT recruiter FDM became the second publicly quoted recruiter in recent weeks to announce it is in bid talks with members of its own management team.

In a statement issued to the Stock Exchange last week, FDM said that Ivan Martin, David Templeman, Sheila Flavell and Andy Brown were in discussions with the company about a possible 120p per share cash offer. FDM said that any offer was likely to be funded by private equity firm Inflexion Private Equity Partners.

Tim Evans, a director at Catalyst Corporate Finance, told Recruiter there were two main reasons why these deals were happening now. “The first is depressed share prices,” he said. The second reason, said Evans, is the absence of opportunities for private equity to do deals in private companies. “Private equity has raised a number of funds across the market and are looking for where to invest it,” he said.

Evans anticipates more such deals in the coming weeks and months. “If you look at the UK stock market there is a large number of recruitment business valued at less than £100m, with depressed share prices.” Unsurprisingly, FDM shares have been given a boost, spiking to 115p as Recruiter went to press.

Meanwhile, despite some positive signs that the UK’s service sector is picking up, expectations that the recruitment industry is on the cusp of recovery were firmly scotched by the managing director of Hays UK & Ireland, by some distance the UK’s largest public recruitment company.

Tim Cook told Recruiter: “After a definite easing in the pressure before Easter, there are no indications that things are getting better.”