With a large variety of clients in 2018 including MSPs, CSPs, security providers, and other IT service providers all ranging in size from SMB to enterprise to Private Equity (PE), Cogent Growth Partners advised on 14 closed transactions for the year. That’s not to mention also performing several market value analyses (MVAs) as well.

Although double digit deals in a year is the norm for Cogent, 2018 included a significant amount of PE backed deals and/or utilizing a bit of equity to round out the transaction structure. Not only was there lots of buy-side advisory action, which is the backbone of Cogent’s services, and of course the MVAs, but Cogent also saw increased engagement in representing sellers that had an offer on the table by a suitor or multiple suitors.

Rolling into 2019 with much momentum, the market in the IT services industry remains strong. New clients are coming on board, current clients are not stopping their search for a deal in the new year as they digest 2018 transactions, increasing numbers of sellers are looking for assistance, and MVA requests for true company value knowledge and for use in mergers abound.

Are you ready for M&A in 2019?