M&A activity in IT services has eased since its 2022 peak but stayed above pre-pandemic levels, as leading players in the industry seek to consolidate their positions and acquire new capabilities. Accenture<\/a> exemplifies this consolidation as the sector’s most active strategic acquirer, having completed 145 IT services acquisitions from 2015 to 2025. Ongoing digital transformation and the rise of AI continue to fuel strong demand for advanced IT solutions, making M&A a key strategy for staying competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article, we take a deep dive into the IT Services M&A market over the past 11 years (2015 to 2025, plus January to September 2026) and try to make generalizations for where the industry is heading. We show which countries have the highest levels of M&A activity and the median deal value per country, as well as who the most active strategic buyers are. We also show the current EBITDA valuation multiples<\/a> in completed IT services transactions and examine how deal size influences these multiples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We conducted an in-depth analysis of 14,714 M&A transactions in the IT Services industry that took place between 2015 and 2025. We examined various trends and metrics, including the total number of IT Services deals by geographic region and investor type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, we examined how the transaction multiples within the IT Services sector have changed over the period. In our IT services valuation research, 520 transactions had disclosed EBITDA multiples, giving us adequate data to draw meaningful conclusions and insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more insights specifically on IT services valuations, covering both public and private valuations, check out our article on IT Services Valuation Multiples<\/a>. For a background on the classifications and sub-sectors of IT services firms and the most extensive public IT services index check out our article here Aventis IT Services Valuations Index.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The data shows a steady upward trend in IT Services M&A transactions between 2015 and 2022, with a brief dip in 2020. Deal volumes increased at an average annual growth rate of 11% from 2015 to 2022 (6.0% a year to 2025, as the chart shows), in line with the growing demand for services offered by IT Services companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2022 saw a peak in IT Services M&A deals, totaling 1,831 transactions. Tailwinds provided by accelerated digitalization and the favorable macro environment of 2021, including abundant liquidity and strong business confidence, played a crucial role in deal volume growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, in 2023, the number of M&A transactions in the IT Services sector dropped by 20% to 1,460. The challenging macroeconomic outlook caused buyers to adopt a more conservative strategy, placing a higher premium on cost savings and organic growth rather than expansion through M&A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While 2023 brought a sharp drop, the fundamental drivers of IT Services M&A remained strong. Digital transformation initiatives have remained a top organizational priority, and the sector’s inherent stability, marked by consistent revenue growth, healthy margins, and asset-light operations, provided a solid foundation for recovery. In 2024 deal volumes won back part of the fall, to 1,634 transactions, and eased to 1,565 in 2025, still below the 2022 peak. Financial buyers carried the rebound: their deals reached a new high in 2025, while strategic buyers made fewer acquisitions than before the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through September 2026, deal numbers ran about a tenth below the same months of 2025: financial buyers kept their 2025 pace while strategic buyers slowed. With demand for IT services holding up and funds still buying, we expect deal numbers to stay near the levels of 2024 and 2025 rather than return to the 2022 peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n M&A in IT Services: Total deal volumes (2015-2026)<\/p>
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Total Deal Volumes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n