IT Services—Strategic M&A on the Rise

Research evidence excerpt

IT Services—Strategic M&A on the Rise

USA | Technology & Information Services EquityJuneResearch30, 2026

IT Services—Strategic M&A on the Rise Related Research

Today's acquisition of European IT Services firm Nagarro by Indian IT Services iMerit Accelerates Enterprise AI Strategy

(6/24/2026)firm Persistent Systems, and ACN recently doubling its target M&A spend to $9B

for F2026, along with other recent industry transactions, suggests strategic use IT Services—A Lay of the Land Post 1Q;

of M&A is increasing. We expect M&A activity within IT Services to accelerate Downgrade EPAM and GDYN; Upgrade

EFOR (5/29/2026)as incumbents increasingly recognize the need to transform amidst the current

tech driven disruption wave, especially with valuations depressed. IT Services—Thoughts on the Impact of

OpenAI and Anthropic Pursuing AI Services

We see three key takeaways for the IT Services industry from today's acquisition of Nagarro (5/5/2026)

by Persistent Systems (Research Note: Persistent Takeover Offer at €81, Martin Comtesse,

6/29/2026):

1. The strategic use of M&A is on the rise

2. Increasingly attractive valuations are making it easier to do M&A

3. There is a disconnect between the value ascribed to IT Services by insiders and outsiders

A significant premium. We were quite surprised at the deal's valuation of 8.2x EV/EBITDA (140%

premium), which places it well above US peers, which are currently trading at roughly 5.0x, with the

digital engineering subgroup trading at 3.3x. Our sense is Persistent was willing to pay a significant

premium given the scale, increased digital engineering capabilities, and non-overlapping geographic

footprint that Nagarro brings, allowing it to uniquely ascribe greater value to the deal.

Debate about valuation far from settled.