Leading recruitment to recruitment outfit McCall has this week acquired two rec-to-rec businesses as part of an ambitious expansion drive.

The latest additions to the McCall group are Manchester-based Thomas McGowan Associates (TMA), and Austen Phoenix Associates (APA), which has offices in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. Details of the amount paid for the two firms, which was a combination of cash and shares, have not been released.

The companies will now trade as McCall TMA and McCall APA respectively.

In the north-west, Sharna Orchant, TMA’s former owner, will run the new merged business from TMA’s existing Manchester offices. She becomes north-west regional director for McCall.

The news of McCall’s growth in the region comes only a few weeks after the announcement that rival rec-to-rec firm Heywood Associates was to close its office in Manchester. ‘We find the north is a fabulous playground for us,’ said director Nick Bancroft.

Commenting on the APA acquisition, Bancroft said: ‘APA will add real value by pushing us into east London and East Anglia.’ APA’s Julie O’Neill is to join the main board of McCall, working alongside Bancroft and concentrating on McCall’s interim and boardroom divisions, plus a new arm of the business dealing with mergers and acquisitions.

Professional Recruiter has learned that the firm is to announce two further purchases in the next week. ‘There are a lot of independents out there that are very keen to join our group,’ Bancroft said.

Meanwhile Helen Yarrow, McCall’s regional manager for London and the firm’s top biller for the last three years, has left the company. Yarrow has invested in Pangbourne-based rec-to-rec firm Sharp Recruitment, where she is now a partner alongside Tina Reay. Yarrow will concentrate on building Sharp’s IT and telecoms business, as she did for McCall before managing the London office.

Yarrow cited her wish to return to working directly with clients as one reason for the move. ‘I really missed running a desk,’ she said.