Kingsley Gate Partners Acquires The Omerta Group

Beyond expansion, the deal brings together complementary organizations in terms of mindset, clients, and approaches to finding top talent. Hunt Scanlon Ventures goes inside the latest M&A deal!

January 11, 2023 – Private equity-backed Kingsley Gate Partners has acquired London-headquartered The Omerta Group (TOG), an executive search firm specializing in financial services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. “To have a truly global financial services practice, you must be in three locations: New York, London, and Hong Kong,” said Umesh Ramakrishnan, CEO of Kingsley Gate Partners. “This acquisition strengthens our position in these key markets.”

The Omerta Group will complement Kingsley Gate Partners’ strength in the U.S. and will accelerate the firm’s growing footprint across the U.K., continental Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The acquisition brings the addition of 50 experienced global financial services specialists and also builds on Kingsley Gate Partners’ existing financial services expertise, particularly in asset management.

The Omerta Group’s clients include investment banks, investment managers, private equity, hedge funds, quantitative trading platforms, exchanges, sovereign wealth funds, commodity trading houses, and firms within the digital asset and blockchain ecosystem.

“Jason Mort and The Omerta Group have built a highly recognizable name in many of the key growth sectors within global financial services; we are thrilled to welcome them to Kingsley Gate Partners,” said Paige C. Scott, senior partner at Kingsley Gate Partners. “The infusion of their geographic and subject matter expertise, especially in capital markets, represents a critical inflection point for the growth of our existing financial services practice. By combining forces, we can bring our clients and our candidates the best regionalized experience in financial services search with a highly integrated global platform.”

“Kingsley Gate Partners and The Omerta Group share a performance-driven and entrepreneurial mindset,” Kingsley Gate Partners said. “They both have complementary rosters of blue-chip clients and reputations for effective, transparent, high-quality approaches to executive search. The Omerta Group’s tried and tested processes are also congruent with Kingsley Gate Partners’ proprietary and tech-enabled search platform.”

“We have known both Kingsley Gate Partners and The Omertà Group for years,” said Cody Crook, chief strategy & investment officer at Hunt Scanlon Ventures. “This is a phenomenal deal for both sides. The combined firms will offer the geographic reach that financial services companies need to grow.” 

Jason Mort, founder and CEO of The Omerta Group, will serve as leader of Kingsley Gate’s global financial services practice and has also been appointed to the firm’s global leadership team.

“I’m delighted to welcome Jason to our leadership team and to announce that he will also be responsible for our global financial services practice,” said Mr. Ramakrishnan. “We are, of course, all really looking forward to getting to know our new colleagues.”

“I am excited by the opportunities ahead. Kingsley Gate Partners and The Omerta Group, backed by Crescent Cove Advisors is a powerful combination,” said Mr. Mort. “Following a period of exceptional growth at The Omerta Group, we felt it was the right time and the optimal way of delivering on our ambition to expand our presence in the U.S. and developing further in our home markets.”

“I have always been a strong advocate for how technology can positively impact executive search,” Mr. Mort said. “Industry consolidation in a highly fragmented industry and growth capital are also important factors and, with our new colleagues, we are well placed to take advantage of this growth opportunity. I am extraordinarily proud of The Omerta Group and what we have achieved together in our 20-year history and look forward to continuing the journey as part of the Kingsley Gate Partners team.”

Founded in 2015, Kingsley Gate Partners recruits senior leadership for private equity and venture capital portfolio businesses and Fortune 100 companies. Headquartered in New York, the firm employs consultants and recruiters with expertise in private equity, life sciences, financial services, technology, manufacturing, and professional services. Kingsley Gate has completed searches with over 1,700 clients in 33 countries.

Recent Investment

Last year, Kingsley Gate secured an investment from Crescent Cove Advisors, a multi-asset investment firm focused on technology investments. The equity partnership is expected to fuel the search firm’s growth through global expansion and accelerate a push into talent acquisition AI-enabled software. Mr. Ramakrishnan, one of Kingsley Gate Partners’ co-founders, has been named CEO.

Kingsley Gate marked the first private equity investment for Crescent Cove and expands the firm’s capital solutions for founder-led technology companies. “As organizations are reshaped during and post-pandemic, we are excited to partner with the Kingsley Gate Partners team and support the company in redefining executive recruitment through the use of technology-driven solutions,” said Jun Hong Heng, founder and chief investment officer of Crescent Cove.

“The global executive talent management industry is large and growing, yet little has changed in how companies approach talent acquisition,” said Andrew Holmes, partner and head of private equity at Crescent Cove. “Umesh, Nancy, Buster, and the talented team at Kingsley Gate Partners are recognized leaders in developing proprietary and differentiated technologies to help its global client base improve the speed and accuracy in their hiring processes. We cannot think of a better time to make this investment given today’s global talent shortage and the premium companies place on talent acquisition. We are honored to join as partners in this exciting mission.”

The Right Time for Growth

“We had spent a little over five years building the foundation for a tech-enabled global services firm – with over 10 proprietary digital products, Synchronous Fit (our new search framework), and passionate consultants that supported that evolution,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said. Kingsley Gate, he said, can now scale the firm to a size that would disrupt SHREK firm domination of the industry.

“To do this, it was important to find the right partner – not just one with an appetite to invest in a large global expansion on a progressive platform, but one that was aligned with our vision of what search should look like today,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said. “We spent over a year on that journey, and once we found Crescent Cove, we knew that our search was over. We are ready.”

Related: Kingsley Gate Partners Expands in London

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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