Elmwood acquisitive as its ‘reputation growing’

Elmwood is looking to acquire an ‘easily digestible’, ten-person creative group to build up its London office, Design Week has learned.

Chairman of the group Jonathan Sands confirms that he is in the process of ‘recruiting people’ and is looking at small businesses that could ‘add value to our proposition’.

‘Our reputation is growing and it seems a prime time to take advantage of that and fast-track our growth,’ he says.

The ideal acquisition will be a ‘hungry corporate communications, three-dimensional retail design [or] digital’ business that has ‘had a tough time over the past 12 months,’ according to Sands.

‘We want to buy a management team [in which] the founding fathers will bow out and the young management team will come through,’ he adds.

Sands says Elmwood would like to procure a group relatively quickly, but it is not ‘very close’ at the moment.

Any acquisition will supplement the London office’s existing staff, which is currently ‘too busy with client work to develop the business’, he explains.