Korn Ferry to acquire AMS in $1.1 billion talent deal

Korn Ferry agreed to buy AMS from OMERS Private Equity in a deal market reporting valued at about £850 million, or roughly $1.1 billion, a transaction that would fuse two of the hiring industry’s biggest outsourced workforce platforms. The combined company would have more than 16,000 colleagues and, by Korn Ferry’s estimate, place a professional in a job about every 90 seconds.

The acquisition is designed to create a global leader in talent and organizational consulting by combining Korn Ferry’s Search, Talent & Organizational Solutions, and Workforce Solutions businesses with AMS’s recruitment process outsourcing, early careers and campus recruiting, contingent workforce solutions, consulting and skills creation operations. Korn Ferry said the deal would deepen its reach across hiring, talent planning and skills development as large employers look for outside partners that can manage both immediate recruiting and longer-term workforce redesign.

Gary D. Burnison, Korn Ferry’s chief executive, said, “By bringing AMS into the Korn Ferry family, we are expanding our ability to help clients solve their most critical organizational challenges.” He also said people remain the real driver of organizational success, even as technology changes how companies find and manage labor. AMS founder Rosaleen Blair said the two firms share the same beliefs and values, while AMS chief executive Gordon Stuart said the transaction would accelerate the future of work for clients and teams.

The deal also reflects the scale the talent-sourcing business now demands. AMS was founded in 1996 and says it operates in more than 120 countries with about 8,000 colleagues, giving Korn Ferry a broader footprint across Europe, Asia and other major hiring markets. Korn Ferry’s own investor materials describe it as a global consulting firm that “powers performance,” and the company said on June 23 that fiscal 2026 fee revenue reached $2.9 billion, with fourth-quarter fee revenue of $759.8 million.

OMERS Private Equity bought AMS in May 2018 from New Mountain Capital in a deal valued at £820 million, or about $1.1 billion, putting the business back on the market after roughly eight years under Canadian pension fund ownership. Rosaleen Blair will continue in a chair role after the transaction closes, preserving continuity at a company that has become deeply embedded in multinational recruiting and workforce management.

Korn Ferry scheduled an investor webcast for 8:30 a.m. EDT on June 29 to discuss the acquisition. For major corporate clients, the combination points to a broader vendor that can cover executive search, contingent labor and skills-building under one roof at a time when hiring, outsourcing and workforce planning are being consolidated into fewer global firms.