Pauwels Consulting, the Belgian recruitment and consultancy firm specialising in life sciences, engineering and IT, has announced the takeover of Vandycke & Partners and its sister company Mediconsult.

Vandycke & Partners focuses on the search and selection of executives in the healthcare and life sciences sectors in Belgium. The sister company, Mediconsult, specialises in the outsourcing of clinical research.

“With this acquisition, Pauwels Consulting becomes one of the leading players in the search for executives, recruitment and sourcing projects for the Belgian life sciences industry,” Pauwels said in a statement. The group now has more than 490 active employees in the fields of life sciences, engineering and IT.

From now on, Vandycke & Partners and Mediconsult will operate as independent companies within the Pauwels Consulting group.

"As I was looking for a suitable interested buyer, Pauwels Consulting immediately stood out,” Michel Vandycke, founder and CEO of Vandycke & Partners and Mediconsult, said. “The current is immediately passed between us and our services are perfectly complementary. I am convinced that this recovery will lead to a new dynamic that will benefit all parties.”

“Vandycke & Partners is valuable in the field of executive search and Mediconsult has made the outsourcing of clinical research an asset,”  Bert Pauwels, founder and CEO of Pauwels, said. “These activities are in line with our own services in terms of project sourcing, recruitment and selection. "

“Since January 2016, we have focused specifically on strategic takeovers in order to offer an even wider range of services to our customers," Bert Pauwels said.

No further financial details were disclosed.