Impellam Group acquired Lorien Limited, a UK-based technology staffing firm, for £22.3 million (US$35.7 million) in cash and £7.5 million (US$12.0 million) in new ordinary shares. The deal will make Impellam the second-largest staffing firm in the UK.

Impellam will assume Lorien’s net debt of £14 million (US$22.4 million) and pay an additional deferred consideration of up to £6 million in January 2015 and up to £13.9 million in January 2016; dependent on the EBITDA performance of Lorien during these two earn-out periods. The consideration shares are subject to a 12-month lock-in restriction.

According to Impellam, the acquisition of Lorien is consistent with the company’s strategy of expanding its managed services revenues and adding new disciplines in specialist staffing. It also provides access to the IT staffing market and will enable Impellam to service the IT staffing spend it manages on behalf of clients, which it currently outsources to competitors.

Lorien was founded in 1977 and is the largest independent specialist IT recruitment business in the UK, with offices in London, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh. It operates under the Lorien Resourcing and Vertical IT brands, through which it provides outsourced recruitment services (or managed services) and specialist staffing expertise.