Tech solutions firms tap into PE opportunities amid rising M&A deals

Economic Times

09-07-2025

Agencies Rise of private capital investments into companies through mergers, acquisitions and buyouts is making private equity (PE) firms an attractive business opportunity for India's software service providers for growth and revenue diversification.With global PE dry powder exceeding $2 trillion and deal activity rebounding in key sectors like healthcare, insurance, and technology, this has turned into a lucrative market for IT services firms, according to US-based research and analyst firm Everest Group.
If tech companies like Hexaware, Happiest Minds and GlobalLogic are lining up specialised solutions for PE players, larger players like TCS and Wipro see PE firms as customers for their generative artificial intelligence (genAI) offerings. 'Over the past 18 months, leading service providers and consulting firms have invested in dedicated PE practices: hiring head of private equity business while building specialised solutions to support deal sourcing, AI-driven due diligence, and post-deal integration,' said Kriti Gupta, practice director at Everest Group.She highlighted increasing activity in portfolio companies as PE firms allocate dedicated digital and operational improvement funds to them, ensuring rapid approval and execution of IT initiatives.
R Srikrishna, CEO and executive director of Hexaware Technologies, said, 'There are two potential markets there. One is PE companies as customers. Second is their portfolio companies, and how we can address solving for their technology challenges. Those are parallel markets.' Srikrishna said the aggregate ownership of PE in portfolio companies is estimated to be almost half of the ownership in public markets.'That's a pretty substantial market,' he told ET in an interaction. 'We're going with a focused approach to the ownership teams, talking about how we could help address and improve technology posturing in the particular companies.'Listed in February, Hexaware itself is owned by global PE firm The Carlyle Group, holding 74.71% stake as of March end. It has an annual revenue size of around $1.43 billion, or about Rs 12,250 crore.In March, mid-tier IT services company Happiest Minds Technologies announced its plans to expand business to the PE ecosystem by developing a set of offerings targeted at both PE firms and their portfolio companies. It would carry out due diligence of PE firms' acquisition candidates and help them with a post-acquisition roadmap, said CEO Joseph Anantharaju had said while making the announcement. 'I'm hoping by Q2 we should start seeing some results,' he added.Digital engineering and technology firm GlobalLogic, backed by Hitachi Group, has had a business unit for PE since the last 7-8 years, which is one of its largest business segments with around 25% revenue share, according to Piyush Jha, managing director for India and Asia Pacific at GlobalLogic.'As the tech sector consolidates, PEs are the largest consolidators as they have a lot of cash,' he told ET in an interaction. 'Last two years, they (PEs) did not spend much, waiting for the macro environment to shape up. Now we are seeing that pick up.'
In a recent white paper, India's biggest IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said private capital firms must tap into AI to generate alpha or returns by transforming their operations across deal generation, due diligence, capital management, investments, and portfolio management. It said the private capital industry was set to revive in 2025, driven by the huge amounts of capital they hold, but at a slower rate. And the potential of AI to radically transform the private capital space is unprecedented. 'Private capital firms must launch targeted initiatives across key business facets to take advantage of the opportunity,' TCS said.Azim Premji-promoted Wipro, the country's fourth largest IT services player, believes that despite risks of regulation, data, privacy, etc, GenAI is swiftly becoming a transformative force in PE for portfolio growth. Additionally, PE investors' focus on exits and secure returns will see funds leveraging AI and GenAI for value creation.Both TCS and Wipro did not respond to requests for comment citing the ongoing silent period ahead of their FY26 first quarter results.A Bain report on private investors managing $3.2 trillion in assets, released in March 2025, found that most portfolio companies are participating in some phase of AI testing, with nearly 20% having operationalised GenAI use cases.All this underscores how technology is now viewed as a primary value-creation lever in the PE world, Gupta of Everest Group said.'As this industry moves to operational value creation, it is increasingly relying on service partners and consulting firms to deliver rapid system integrations, sector-tailored expertise, advanced analytics, and AI adoption to hit targets of IRR (internal rate of return) and Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation),' she said.Srikrishna of Hexaware said PEs' priorities are somewhat different from regular companies in terms of time horizons for investments and getting value from them. 'It's all linked to when they invest and where they want to exit,' he said.He explained that PE firms invest early in the cycle and want to make sure there's value coming from those investments later in the cycle of an investment, because that's the time they will plan to exit. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Newton vs. industry: Inside new norms that want your car to be more fuel-efficient
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