Executive recruiter RSR Partners acquired asset management specialist headhunter Higdon Partners to broaden its capabilities.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, said Christopher Sheeron, an RSR Partners spokesman, in an interview.
Higdon Partners’ four partners all were named managing directors of RSR. Henry G. “Hank” Higdon, founder and chairman of the eponymous firm, also assumed the role of RSR’s vice chairman. All seven Higdon Partners employees joined RSR.
Russell S. Reynolds Jr., RSR’s founder, remains chairman of the second recruitment firm he founded. Messrs. Reynolds and Higdon worked together for 15 years at Mr. Russell’s first firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, Mr. Higdon said in an interview.
RSR Partners specializes in corporate governance consulting, and board director and senior-level recruiting, but lacked a dedicated asset management practice, which was Higdon Partners’ sole focus.
“With proxy access and the trend toward greater shareholder-director engagement, active institutional asset managers are increasingly shaping board composition and decision-making,” said Barrett J. Stephens, RSR’s CEO, in a news release.
The combination of RSR’s board advisory work and Higdon Partners’ asset manager recruitment experience is at “the increasingly important nexus of institutional shareholders and corporate boardrooms,” Mr. Stephens said.
