The directors of fashion, sports and lifestyle recruitment firm Hudson Walker International (HWI) say the company has entered a new era with a broader-based service, following its recent merger with Big Fish Executive Search.

Big Fish principal consultant, Richard Whaley, has joined HWI's co-directors Pauline Hudson-Evans and Matthew Dixon and their three other team members in their London Mayfair office.

The retirement last summer of director Dee Walker "gave us a great opportunity to bring another solid and serious recruiter into the business", Dixon told Recruiter.

"We've been aware of Big Fish for some time," Hudson-Evans said. "And we were keen to augment our business, so we said to Richard, 'could we come and talk to you?' "

Whaley said he had had "a few approaches" for acquisition or merger over his six years in business, however he had only been interested in meeting with Hudson-Evans and Dixon.

A similar philosophy of recruitment practices and values paved the way toward the agreement, but Whaley also took a psychometric test to ensure that he brought personal characteristics to the table that would compliment those of the existing team.

The merger was conducted with a minimum of paperwork and bureaucracy, Dixon said: "We're all grown-ups; we shook hands."