Irish recruitment firm Sigmar Recruitment today announced a strategic partnership with French staffing firm Groupe Adéquat.

The partnership will be structured through a staged equity investment over a five-year period that will see Groupe Adéquat take majority interest in Sigmar and create a €1 billion group.

According to Sigmar, the deal will see significant growth in the group’s Irish operations and will “propel Sigmar as Groupe Adéquat’s gateway to English speaking countries.”

The existing management team will remain at Sigmar for the long term and will work with the Groupe Adéquat’s leadership team to execute international expansion.

“Groupe Adéquat have a very similar mindset and culture to Sigmar with major ambition to scale that aligns with ours,” Sigmar CEO, Adrian McGennis said. “Our partnership with Groupe Adéquat will allow us to accelerate our plans to internationalise while expanding our service offering for our customers in Ireland.”

Groupe Adéquat announced in a statement, “Our mission over the next five years is to become one of the top 25 staffing firms in the world, both through organic growth continued investment in high potential international brands such as Sigmar. We identified Sigmar as a strategic partner as they have a reputation for being one of the most respected and innovative consultancies in Europe. We believe that the Sigmar brand has true international currency and this investment represents a significant step, for us, in becoming a global group.  Above all else we share the same values and ambition to deliver more for our colleagues, clients and candidates.”