Aquent has made a small acquisition to help accelerate its expansion into the marketing, advertising and communications niche.

Aquent has acquired small Sydney-based recruiter Eclipse Personnel, which specialises in the marketing, advertising, media and PR niche, that Aquent has been expanding into over the past year.

Eclipse was established in 1997 by Gronya Conlan and Nikky Reed, and has some of Australia's leading advertising and PR agencies as clients, as well as supplying staff to the marketing departments of many leading advertisers.

Conlan and Reed will be joining Aquent in Sydney.

Aquent ceo Greg Savage said Eclipse offered a good strategic fit for Aquent as it worked to grow its share of advertising, marketing and communications recruitment. He said Eclipse had a good business at the executive level of these markets.

"During the past 12 months, Aquent has embarked on a carefully mapped out, expansion and growth strategy," said Savage.

"Our entry into marketing and communications recruitment in Asia Pacific has been a revelation, helping our region to sales growth of 70% this year. Eclipse Personnel gives us an immediate beachhead in the marketing, advertising and media recruitment space in Sydney, and in Melbourne. We plan to build on the already strong Eclipse permanent mid-to-senior level executive recruitment business in these specialties," he said.

Savage said many of Eclipse's clients were new to Aquent and vice versa, so the deal offered upside for both businesses.

He said the acquisition included an upfront fee, with a significant delayed earn-out payment for the Eclipse principals depending on performance.

Eclipse principal Nikky Reed told Shortlist that her and Conlan had decided it was a good time to sell and that Aquent provided a good fit because "their strengths were our weaknesses".