TRAVEL industry recruitment specialist TMS Asia-Pacific has been sold to a joint consortium consisting of its current CEO, Helene Taylor, and Asia-based entrepreneur Steve Hamblin, who founded the Parker Bridge Group in 1988.
“This newly forged partnership will inject new seed capital to feed TMS’ growth and expansion plans in Australia, New Zealand and Asia, as we strive to make TMS the leading recruitment specialist in the hospitality and tourism field for the Asia-Pacific region,” said Taylor. She rejoined the company this year as general manager, and also has a background in business development and coaching.
One of the new consortium’s first priorities, as outlined by Taylor, is to increase TMS’ headcount. She said: “At the moment, we are taking things step by step. First we will focus on re-establishing TMS’ presence in Bangkok, before heading to New Zealand, where the office in Auckland is scheduled to reopen.” TMS will continue to operate under its current branding.
Taylor also confirmed that there are no plans to relaunch the office in Singapore, which shuttered in September. “We will probably service Singapore out of Bangkok for the time being,” she said.
Clients were not informed of the change of ownership prior to Monday’s official announcement, but Taylor reaffirmed that TMS would implement measures for a smooth transition.
Announcing the news in a press release, TMS founder Gary Marshall said making the decision to sell the company he established in 1994 had proven to be a very difficult one.
He said: “The reality is, I have been standing very much on the sidelines for the last five years, becoming more of an inactive shareholder along with Phil Hoffman rather than having a day-to-day hands-on management role in the business.
“I found myself even less involved when Mark Rizzuto came on board as managing director last January. I knew it was time to move on and focus on the other business interests that tend to dominate my time these days.”
