Private equity firm Parabellum Investments and The Acacia Group have acquired Column Technologies, a ServiceNow-focused consulting firm and MSP with expertise across enterprise service management, identity governance, cloud management, DevOps and technology operations management. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Column, which has roughly 440 employees, generated revenues of $90 million in 2019. The IT service provider and consulting firm is based in Lombard, Illinois, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom and Canada. A subsidiary, called Highmetric, is an Elite Partner to ServiceNow partner. Additional partnerships include Atlassian, Sailpoint, ServiceNow, Amazon Web Services and Cisco AppDynamics.
This is M&A deal number 213 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2020. See the complete M&A deal list here. The deal is a private equity platform play -- essentially meaning that the new owners plan to acquire and tuck additional businesses into Column Technologies.
Column Technologies: Brand Refresh, New CEO
The new owners, working in partnership with Column's management team, plan to "accelerate the company’s growth with new investment in the brand, strengthening strategic customer and partner relationships, a renewed focus on operational effectiveness, and market expansion through acquisition," according to a statement from the firms.
Rami Cassis, founder and CEO of Parabellum Investments, has stepped in as interim co-CEO of Column Technologies alongside Acacia’s Gavin Long, in advance of appointing a permanent CEO.
In a prepared statement, Cassis said:
“This is a great investment opportunity for us. We believe that, in the wake of the COVID crisis, large organisations will increasingly look to source enterprise-wide technologies and systems locally that meet their long-term business objectives. We plan to build on this with Column, which has a successful track record and outstanding reputation for excellence in delivery.
The company is particularly well placed to help clients exploit the full power of the cloud, and strengthen their capabilities in technology-enabled customer service, both areas of business that continue to accelerate at a rapid pace. We are already working to improve operational efficiencies across the company and have ambitious plans to help this business grow both organically and with acquisitions across the Americas and Europe.”
Parabellum Investments is looking for further opportunities in the U.S., and regional outsourcing hubs like India and the Americas, to further expand its business interests in the mid-market, the private equity firm says.
ServiceNow Partner M&A
This is the fourth ServiceNow partner acquisition ChannelE2E has tracked so far in 2020. The other three deals involve:
The rapidly expanding ServiceNow market, coupled with a shortage of skilled experts, has been driving ServiceNow partner M&A activity. Track all ServiceNow partner mergers and acquisitions here.
