Recruiters David Barrett and Derek Braddock have known each other well for nearly 20 years. Now, the two are coming together in a merger of equals, forming Braddock Matthews Barrett.
The executive search firm announced the deal on Wednesday. BraddockMatthews was founded by Braddock and Bill Matthews in 2013, following their departure from another executive search firm, HigdonBraddockMatthews. Barrett, meanwhile, has been operating his eponymous firm since 2005.
“We wanted to be bigger in private equity and private credit,” Barrett said by phone Wednesday. “They didn’t have a London office or work with allocators. We do a lot of work in alternatives and traditional managers, but there’s little overlap.”
While Barrett’s firm had considered hiring outside team members to build up the firm’s private equity presence, a merger with BraddockMatthews made more sense, he added. “It’s not for the sake of getting bigger, but more for what’s best for our clients,” Barrett said.
Barrett and Braddock started to consider the possibility of a merger nearly ten years ago.
Merger talks heated up seriously last year, and since then the two firms have combined, integrating their Boston and New York offices. The combined firm will still solely focus on asset management, but it will target both the buy and sell side of the market, operating globally.
“Combining our teams with the level of depth of our respective asset management search experience, creates a firm with unparalleled access to world-class talent across traditional and alternative asset management, including the full spectrum of investment, distribution, operations and C-suite talent,” said Derek Braddock and Bill Matthews, BraddockMatthews’ co-founders in a statement.
According to Barrett, the two firms are coming off of three record years of search activity. He sees the merger as a “one plus one equals four” type of deal, where the sum is greater than its parts.
“In the asset owner world, we’re always looking for folks who have direct experience, whether it be in private equity or public markets,” Barrett said. “Candidates who have taken risks earlier in their careers are the best possible candidates for allocator roles. They’ve been on the front lines.”
