Generalist recruiter Adecco’s chief executive has confirmed the company is able to spend up to €1bn (euros) on a proposed takeover of professional recruiter Michael Page.

In comments made to The Times newspaper, Dieter Scheiff, chief executive of Adecco, said: “I can’t say how much we are willing to spend…we can leverage our balance sheet to €1bn (euros) and we have roughly 400m in shares available. Whatever we do we will remain financially disciplined.”

Michael Page rejected Adecco’s preliminary approach.