Korn Ferry to Buy AMS in $1.1 Billion Cash-and-Stock Deal
The global consulting firm will fold AMS’s recruitment and early-careers franchises into a combined talent and organizational practice.
Korn Ferry (KFY), a global organizational consulting firm, entered into a definitive agreement with OMERS Private Equity to acquire UK-headquartered AMS for an aggregate purchase price of approximately £850 million, or about $1.1 billion.
The consideration is mixed: about £659 million, or roughly $881 million, in cash and about £191 million, or roughly $255 million, in Korn Ferry common stock. Korn Ferry expects to fund the cash portion with about $300 million of cash on hand and the remaining approximately $581 million with borrowings under its existing revolver. The company will issue about 3.6 million shares, subject to a 15% collar at closing.
The combination is intended to create a global leader in talent and organizational consulting. Korn Ferry’s search, talent and organizational solutions, and workforce solutions will sit alongside AMS’s recruitment process outsourcing, early careers and campus recruiting, contingent workforce, consulting, and skills-creation practices. After completion, the combined firm will have more than 16,000 colleagues and place a professional in a job approximately every 90 seconds.
On a current annual run-rate basis, AMS is generating about $650 million of fee revenue and $100 million of adjusted EBITDA. Assuming no adverse change in the economic environment, Korn Ferry estimates that the run-rate adjusted EBITDA contribution within a year after closing will be about $140 million. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings per share in the first full year after adjusting for restructuring, integration, and transaction costs.
AMS’s long-term contracts will add more than $1.5 billion in estimated fees remaining under existing contracts. Founded by Rosaleen Blair in 1996, AMS serves organizations across financial services, technology, healthcare, life sciences, consumer, industrial, and public-sector markets, with operations in more than 120 countries, including Europe and Asia. Blair will continue in a chair role after the deal closes.
“By bringing AMS into the Korn Ferry family, we are expanding our ability to help clients solve their most critical organizational challenges,” said Gary D. Burnison, CEO of Korn Ferry. Gordon Stuart, CEO of AMS, said combining the two firms will create new opportunities for clients and teams and accelerate the ability to shape the future of work. Michael Block, head of private capital at OMERS, said Korn Ferry is a strong strategic fit as AMS enters its next chapter.
Closing is subject to regulatory clearances and is expected in Korn Ferry’s second fiscal quarter of FY’27. An investor conference call was scheduled for the announcement date to discuss additional details.