Technology Services Industry Update Q4 2023

Despite headwinds in overall M&A across all sectors, coupled with macroeconomic  uncertainty, Technology Services M&A market remained robust in 2023, driven by a  number of key sector themes, such as Cloud Enablement, Digital Transformation,  Data / Analytics, and AI. Share prices for publicly-traded Technology Services  companies recovered in 2023 versus experiencing significant declines in 2022.  Valuations similarly increased over the last twelve months from an average EV / LTM  EBITDA multiple of 13.5x at the beginning of the year to 15.4x by the end of 2023.

Major Cloud Platforms Driving Cloud Enablement Services Spend

• The overall spend on Cloud Platforms is nearly $260 billion
• The hyperscalers – AWS, Azure, and GCP, comprise the majority of Cloud Platform spend, at 67% of the total market share in 2023
• Other Cloud Platforms of most interest to Technology Services acquirers include Adobe, Atlassian, Databricks, IBM, Oracle Cloud, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Snowflake, UiPath,  and Workday

Technology Services M&A Update: 2023

• M&A volume in the Technology Services sector exceeded last year with an increase of 3.5%  in 2023, driven by a number of key investable themes
• High-quality assets continue to garner interest from strategic and financial acquirers, due to industry tailwinds and a significant amount of capital sitting on the sidelines
• Accenture remained the most active acquirer of Technology Services assets in 2023, completing 27 deals. Other significant acquirers included The 20 MSP Group, Bechtle, VAR  Group, and Globant

Key Valuation Trends

• Valuation multiples (EV / LTM EBITDA) of publicly-traded Technology Services companies expanded in 2023
  • Median multiples expanded in 2023 to 15.4x, up from 13.5x at the beginning of 2023
• The Technology Services index appreciated 19.6% in 2023, reversing the compressions seen in 2022

We hope you find this information valuable, and as always, feel free to reach out if you would like to discuss in further detail. To read the full report, download the PDF below.