MSPmentor

GTCR Golder Rauner, a private equity firm, says it is investing in IQNavigator, which specializes in vendor-neutral managed service programs.

This is the second time in less than two weeks that a private equity firm has pumped money into an MSP-focused company. And it’s the latest deal to land on our MSPmentor M&A Tracker, our fast-growing list of mergers, acquisitions and investments across the MSP landscape.

Here’s more on the GTCR-IQNavigator deal, and the three-act play that I expect to see as the MSP industry both expands and consolidates.

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Managed service providers remain in a buying mood, and continue to gobble each other up. And now, private equity investors are joining the action. The latest three examples: Key Methods purchased Enterprise Systems Inc.; Evolve IP acquired Lyrio IP Technology Solutions; and Wachovia Capital Partners has snapped up HostMySite in a private equity deal.

The HostMySite deal is particularly interesting, since Wachovia Capital Partners’ parent is in financial turmoil at the moment. You can follow these and other deals by reading our MSPmentor M&A Tracker, which has spotted more than a dozen managed services-related acquisitions this year.

Here’s a bit more on each of the three latest deals:

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The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the managed services market seems to be accelerating. Our MSPmentor M&A Tracker now lists 10 such deals this year — and we suspect there are dozens more that we’ve yet to hear about.

Give our MSPmentor M&A Tracker a look and please let us know if there are any deals we’ve overlooked or should add to the list. You can alert us by posting a comment below or by emailing MSPmentor Editorial Director Joe Panettieri (joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com).

Admittedly, some deals listed on the M&A Tracker aren’t pure MSP acquisitions, but each deal did have a managed services component attached to it.

Call it a technology paradox: Even as the managed services market grows rapidly, it also consolidates through mergers and acquisitions. The latest such deal involves two Cisco Systems partners — ePlus and Network Architects — getting together to better target commercial customers.

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As managed service providers continue to acquire one another, readers have been asking me about MSP valuations. Are buyout prices based on specific financial multiples? Are MSPs valued based on a multiple of revenue, gross profits, net income, something else? Read More >