In a statement, released this earlier this week, the group, which previously provided recruitment services before the sale of its operating business to business outsourcing provider Capita 18 months ago, announced it had conditionally offered to purchase Gordon Dadds Group for £18.8m and raised £20m in equity.

Work Group is also proposing changing its name to Gordon Dadds Group.

Speaking to Recruiter about the deal, Simon Howard, a founder of Work Group, said: “It’s a fond farewell to the recruitment world, where I’ve spent 38 years…

“We’d already sold the operating businesses, so it was just the shell company that was left… What was left was the AIM-listed cash shell and essentially what we have been able to do is provide an exit for shareholders whereby they will become invested in a larger company.

“There is a slight irony here in that many believe the recruitment industry is overdue for a period of consolidation and of course the whole basis of the business case for the reverse takeover of Gordon Dadds is that Gordon Dadds is going to be consolidator and already has been a consolidator in the legal market.”