River Of Private Money

Private-equity investment in solution providers hit a record high in 2015 with a flurry of deals including six major investments in the past two months.

Among the biggest deals over the past three months include the acquisition of four 2015 CRN Solution Provider 500 companies: Pomeroy (No. 44), NWN (No. 70), Ahead (No. 86) and Atlantix Global Systems (No. 144).

Martin Wolf, president of Martinwolf M&A Advisors, a Walnut Creek, Calif., channel investment advisor, said the private-equity investment is helping many tech-savvy solution providers become much stronger financial properties.

"This is the most active year ever for private-equity channel investments," said Wolf. "They are attracted by the generally consistent cash flows and growth."

From the perspective of the private-equity firms, ’this is a growth industry,’ agreed Chris Froman, president and CEO of Pomeroy, a managed service provider based in Hebron, Ky. ’And IT is going to be in high demand for many years to come.’

Here are 10 private-equity firms that have invested in the channel this year.