Top Private Equity Investors in IT Services Companies: 2015-2025

Between 2015 and 2025 we recorded 1,427 private equity buyouts of IT services companies worldwide. That is a minority of all IT services acquisitions by count, but it dominates the large end of the market: the median disclosed PE buyout was worth $146 million, roughly eight times the $18 million median across all IT services deals. This article ranks the most active private equity investors in IT services globally, ordered by buyout activity across all eleven years, using proprietary counts from the Aventis Advisors deal database of more than 125,000 transactions. It is the companion to our ranking of the top strategic acquirers of IT services companies. For a closer look at the European mid-market firms and their investment criteria and ticket sizes, see our regional guide to the most active IT services private equity investors in Europe.

Private equity approaches IT services differently from a strategic buyer. A corporate buys to add a capability and integrate it; a sponsor buys to own a platform, professionalize it, fund a buy-and-build program, and exit in three to six years. That difference shows in the data. The largest deals belong to the mega-cap funds (KKR, Carlyle and Bain each average over a billion dollars per disclosed IT services buyout), while a deep field of mid-market specialists such as Renovus and Shore Capital run high-volume, lower-value platform-building strategies.

For a founder, the presence of both groups matters. A sponsor is often the buyer that pays for growth potential rather than just current earnings, and the one most likely to keep management in place and back a second bite of the apple. The ranking below shows which funds return to IT services in every cycle, and which corner of the market each prefers.

Who’s investing: private equity in IT services 2015-2025 in numbers

PE buyout activity in IT services rose across the decade, tracking the wider deal cycle: a build-up through 2015-2019, a peak in the cheap-capital years of 2020-2022, and a resilient level since despite higher rates. A price was disclosed on 21.5% of the 1,427 buyouts, and where disclosed the median was $146 million, reflecting the platform-scale nature of PE control deals. The bulk of activity sits in the mid-market, where most transactions are undisclosed and the real volume lies.

Methodology

The ranking covers announced IT services acquisitions between January 2015 and December 2025 that are tagged as institutional or management buyouts (IBO, IBI, MBO or MBI) in the Aventis Advisors deal database, which is our proxy for private equity control investments. Investors are ranked by the number of deals where the fund is named as the acquirer. Buy-and-build add-ons executed under an operating platform (for example Evergreen Services Group or Thrive) are attributed to that platform and counted in our strategic acquirers ranking, not here, so a sponsor’s true footprint across its portfolio is larger than the direct count shown. Minority and growth-equity investments are excluded, as are deals by “Undisclosed Acquirer.” Values are disclosed on a minority of deals and skew toward the largest transactions.

The most active private equity investors in IT services at a glance

Buyout counts cover 2015 to 2025. Average deal size is calculated only on deals with a disclosed price and skews high; the count of disclosed deals is shown in brackets, and “n/d” means no deal in that row had a disclosed value.

#	Investor	2015-2019	2020-2022	2023-2025	Total	Avg. disclosed value
1	H.I.G. Capital	9	5	7	21	$617m (11)
2	KKR	2	3	7	12	$1.27bn (8)
3	Carlyle	4	5	3	12	$1.28bn (8)
4	Renovus Capital Partners	4	4	3	11	$14m (1)
5	Bain Capital	4	3	4	11	$1.03bn (4)
6	Shore Capital Partners	0	0	9	9	n/d
7	Apax Partners	3	4	2	9	$645m (3)
8	FSN Capital	5	3	1	9	$237m (2)
9	Bpifrance	2	6	1	9	$278m (3)
10	VIA Equity	1	2	6	9	n/d
11	Waterland	3	3	2	8	n/d
12	Ardian	4	2	2	8	$230m (4)
13	Arlington Capital Partners	7	0	1	8	$75m (1)
14	HgCapital	4	1	2	7	$289m (6)
15	Abry Partners	3	4	0	7	$110m (1)

Inflexion, Cloud Equity Group, Norvestor, Axcel, Andera Partners, UI Investissement, Keensight Capital, EQT, CVC, One Equity Partners and Naxicap each recorded six to seven IT services buyouts, narrowly missing the table.

H.I.G. Capital: the most active investor

Overview: H.I.G. Capital is the most active private equity investor in IT services in our data, with 21 buyouts spread evenly across the cycle. The US mid-market firm buys IT services, systems integration, and staffing platforms, often carving them out or taking listed businesses private, then building them up.

Investment pace: 21 buyouts, sustained across all three sub-periods, with disclosed values on more than half.

Typical target: Mid-market and larger US and European IT services and integration platforms, frequently public-to-private or corporate carve-outs.

Select transactions: Mainline Information Systems (US, systems integration, ~$1.59bn, 2023), Converge Technology Solutions (Canada, systems integration, ~$935m, 2025), and Oxford Global Resources (US, IT staffing, ~$525m, 2021).

KKR

Overview: KKR is the heaviest hitter by deal size, averaging over $1.2 billion per disclosed IT services buyout, with activity accelerating sharply since 2023 and a notable run of large Japanese take-privates.

Investment pace: 12 buyouts, weighted to 2023-2025.

Typical target: Large-cap IT services, cybersecurity, and managed-infrastructure platforms.

Select transactions: Fuji Soft (Japan, digital engineering, ~$2.70bn, 2024), Optiv Security (US, cybersecurity, ~$2.0bn, 2016), and Ensono (US, managed services, ~$1.7bn, 2021).

Carlyle

Overview: Carlyle matches KKR on both count and average size, with a franchise in US government-focused IT and security services alongside large international platforms.

Investment pace: 12 buyouts, spread across the period.

Typical target: Large-cap IT services, government technology, and consulting platforms.

Select transactions: ManTech International (US, cybersecurity and government IT, ~$4.27bn, 2022), Hexaware Technologies (India, IT and cloud services, ~$3.0bn, 2021), and a 60% stake in Seidor (Spain, IT consulting, ~$666m, 2024).

Renovus Capital Partners

Overview: A lower-mid-market US specialist in knowledge and technology services, Renovus runs a high-volume, smaller-ticket strategy. Most of its deals are undisclosed, and its lone disclosed value is a fraction of the mega-funds’ averages.

Investment pace: 11 buyouts, steady across the period.

Typical target: Smaller US technology-services, data, and cloud platforms, built up through add-ons.

Select transactions: Futura Mobility (US, software development, ~$14m, 2020), Performive (US, cloud services, 2024), and QualX (US, data and analytics, 2024).

Bain Capital

Overview: A large-cap sponsor whose IT services buyouts skew to sizeable international platforms, with a pronounced recent focus on Japan.

Investment pace: 11 buyouts, evenly spread, with several disclosed at scale.

Typical target: Large national IT services and integration champions.

Select transactions: Engineering Ingegneria Informatica (Italy, systems integration, ~$1.76bn, 2020), IDAJ (Japan, digital engineering, ~$148m, 2023), and SI&C (Japan, systems integration, ~$121m, 2023).

Shore Capital Partners

Overview: The fastest-rising name in the ranking. Shore, a US lower-middle-market specialist, entered IT services aggressively and recorded all nine of its buyouts in 2023-2025, building platforms in managed services and consulting.

Investment pace: 9 buyouts, all since 2023.

Typical target: Small US managed-services, consulting, and technology firms as platform and add-on investments.

Select transactions: CXponent (US, IT consulting, 2025), Itnow (US, managed services, 2025), and Computers for Business Management (US, 2025).

Bpifrance: the public co-investor

Overview: France’s public investment bank is the most active IT services investor in our data that is not a conventional buyout fund. It backs French technology-services champions as a co-investor alongside private equity sponsors rather than leading buyouts on its own, and every one of its deals in the period was a French target held through an investor syndicate.

Investment pace: 9 buyouts, weighted to 2020-2022, all in France and all consortium co-investments.

Typical target: French IT services, cybersecurity, and cloud firms backed as part of domestic investor groups.

Select transactions: Adista (France, ~$485m, 2021), Vitaprotech Group (France, cybersecurity, ~$301m, 2022), and Foliateam (France, cloud services, ~$49m, 2020).

Where private equity money goes: buyouts by service line

PE buyout activity is spread across every service line, with the largest share in software development, systems integration, and managed services. The table shows the number of PE buyouts by subcategory, 2015-2025.

What this means for founders

Two points stand out for an owner weighing a sale.

First, the buyer pool is deeper than the strategic list alone suggests. For most IT services businesses, private equity is now as likely a buyer as a corporate, and for platform-quality businesses with recurring revenue and a fragmented market to consolidate, a sponsor is often the more motivated bidder. That competition between strategic and financial buyers is what lifts price.

Second, the type of PE buyer varies enormously by size. A larger, profitable platform will attract the mega-cap funds that write billion-dollar checks; a smaller founder-led business is more likely to be a platform or add-on for a mid-market specialist such as Renovus or Shore Capital. Both routes can be attractive, but they imply very different processes, valuations, and roles for the founder afterward.

Will private equity buy my IT services business?

If your business has recurring or repeatable revenue, a defensible niche, and room to grow through acquisition, private equity is very likely to be interested, either as a platform to build around or as an add-on to one it already owns. Sponsors typically back management, fund further M&A, and aim for a second exit, which can mean a founder sells twice. The trade-off is a more demanding process and a new set of governance expectations.

A well-run sale puts strategic and private equity buyers in competition rather than negotiating with one. That is the single biggest lever on outcome, and where an advisor earns their fee.

About Aventis Advisors

Aventis Advisors is an M&A advisory firm focused on technology and IT services companies. We advise founders and owners on company sales, growth capital, and strategic transactions, combining sector focus with proprietary deal data such as the database behind this article. To discuss your options, get in touch.