The leading marketing services company and its subsidiary Essentially Group have gained 85% of the share capital of the new operation. Essentially France was established by Chime specifically to acquire the rugby player agency businesses of Pascal Forni, Miguel Fernandez, Laurent Laffitte and Nigel Geany. France is the largest player management market in world rugby and Essentially France will now become the leading rugby player agency in the country.

The new business will trade as Essentially France and is a subsidiary of Essentially Group. Essentially France represented 14 of the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad for France. In addition, the company represents such luminaries of the game as Racing Metro star Sebastien Chabal and new France coach Philippe Saint-Andre, along with having a strong presence in Argentina where its clients include national team captain Felipe Contemponi.

“We are delighted to welcome this quality team into Essentially and Chime respectively,” said Bart Campbell, CEO of Essentially. “They have been our preferred partners in France for a number of years and it will further enhance our offering having them as part of the Group. The founders have assisted in the past with the contracts in France for Essentially clients such as Dan Carter’s move to USAP (Perpignan), Francois Steyn's move to Racing Metro, Bakkies Botha and Carl Hayman to Toulon amongst others.”

Campbell added: “We look forward to working with them in building a broader business for Essentially France over the coming years. France is a hugely important rugby market, and this will complement our existing rugby offices in the UK, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.”