Leading IT recruiter Omnium IT Recruitment has been acquired by a rival company to become part of a £35 million business.

Omnium, based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, has been acquired by Wiltshire-based Outsource UK for an undisclosed sum. Together, the business now has a joint £35 million turnover, with some 400 contractors working for clients throughout the UK and Europe and 45 members of staff.

Omnium was set up in 1999 by Melanie Bose and Rosanne Meek, and has enjoyed significant growth over the last 12 months. This acquisition supports Outsource UK's strategy to aggressively increase its market share over the next two years and further strengthen its position as a leading player in the IT recruitment sector.

Outsource UK's founder and Managing Director Paul Jameson said Omnium was an attractive proposition, as it was a preferred supplier for a number of companies, including two leading financial services companies. Outsource UK itself is a leading provider of IT personnel for financial services, servicing blue chip organisations such as Nationwide and Santander.

"We were attracted to Omnium because we were impressed with the business, which seemed to fit well with our own. This is an important step for Outsource UK, as the staff of Omnium and founders, Melanie and Rosanne, have an unrivalled relationship with their customers and bring a set of skills and energy that will strengthen the combined group," he said.

Melanie and Rosanne will continue to run their part of the business from the Newcastle-under-Lyme offices; for the medium term, it will remain known as Omnium.

Rosanne said they had been considering the future growth the business and had selected Outsource UK as one which had a "good fit". She said: "Finding the right business to partner was critical to Melanie and myself, as our staff, clients and contractors are very important to us and in Outsource UK, we have found a company which values relationships as highly as we do."

This acquisition  is the latest in a string of successes for Outsource UK. As well as marking its 20th anniversary this year, it launched a graduate trainee scheme, to enable it to grow its next generation of recruitment consultants.

Already the 160th largest recruiter nationally, out of 7,400 - and the 35th largest IT recruiter - this acquisition can only see its position strengthen.

Outsource UK's other accolades include accreditation by the industry's governing body the REC and membership of APSCo, the industry's professional body. Paul Jameson is a former Wiltshire Business magazine Business Person of the Year and Outsource UK has appeared in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 league table of independent fast-growing companies.

This year the company entered a published list of the top 100 largest Swindon companies. It also came 9th in Recruiter magazine's list of the Fast 50 recruiters. Earlier this year Outsource UK was a finalist in the Recruitment and Employment Confederation industry awards and the Wiltshire Business Awards.