Whitehead Mann, one of the UK’s best known headhunting companies, has been bought by a much larger American rival.

Less than two years after it was taken private by Och-Ziff, the hedge fund group, the City headhunter has been bought by Korn/Ferry International in a move which creates the leading executive search firm in Britain and France.

Whitehead Mann’s client roster includes 90 of Europe’s top 200 companies, Korn/Ferry said, and boasts regional hubs in the Middle East and Asia.

Piers Marmion, Whitehead chief executive, will join Korn/Ferry as chairman of its Europe, Middle East and Africa operations.

Korn/Ferry shares closed up 4.7 per cent at $12.18 (£7.38) — their highest since December.

Earlier this week, the American company reported a worse than expected quarterly loss, reflecting the fact that many companies have frozen hiring during the global recession.

For the quarter ended April 30, the company reported a loss of $19.5 million (£11.82 million)

Analysts expressed concerns that firms like Korn/Ferry focused too much on permanent placements, saying they ignored that clients typically only add costly permanent positions when conditions look more stable. Korn/Ferry has reduced its workforce and considered consolidating some of its operations.

It said that revenues in the current quarter would be lower than Wall Street expected.

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