Imprint Search and Selection, a company that specialises in the recruitment of middle to senior managers in the £50,000-300,000 salary range, is to go public on the Alternative Investment Market.

The company, which includes corporate finance specialist Altium among its backers, is making presentations to institutional investors this week, and will reportedly be valued at £12m. The management team hopes to raise £5m to fund growth.

Brian Hamill, CEO, and Rob Walker, COO, have a strong track record in recruitment. The pair have worked together for 15 years, building up search firm Walker Hamill before selling it to Irish recruiter Marlborough in 1998 for £17.6m, with seats on the Marlborough board as part of the deal.

Speaking to Professional Recruiter, Hamill said: ‘We feel very good about going to the market in the present conditions. In a flat market, good people will make money regardless, so we feel that the market is in our favour rather than against us.’

Hamill hopes to take the company’s value to £100m within three years, and the company hopes to use the money raised to fund growth by acquisition. ‘We are looking at a number of deals,’ he said. ‘We feel that for the first time in ten years the valuations of reasonably sized private companies will be quite good. So we will be able to pick up decent businesses at a good price.

‘We expect to be able to recruit for companies in places other than London,’ Hamill continued. ‘The idea is to look to roll out the businesses to other countries. We would like to open offices in New York and Hong Kong within 18 months.’