Cogent Growth Partners, a buy-side intermediary for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the IT Services sector, today announced the successful closing of HBK CPAs and Consultants’ acquisition of Vertical Solutions. HBK provides tax, accounting, assurance, business consulting and IT services to clients across the nation. Vertical Solutions, a leading Managed Services Provider (MSP) based in Pittsburgh, will join HBK’s $10 million technology division and will be renamed Vertilocity. Cogent served as the acquisition intermediary, assisting both companies in due diligence, deal negotiation and transaction completion. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
“HBK’s acquisition of Vertical Solutions is part of an emerging national trend that is seeing traditional professional services firms invest strategically to be able to offer specialized IT services to their entire client base,” said Rick Murphy, CEO and
Managing Partner at Cogent Growth Partners.
According to Murphy, Cogent clients are looking to automation, AI and business analytics to enable data-driven decision-making and faster responses to market changes, which many of these firms are able to achieve through acquiring like-minded IT service companies.
“As digital continues to evolve and disrupt, our clients are turning to us for help,” said Christopher Allegretti, CPA, Managing Principal and CEO, HBK CPAs and Consultants. “For us, this acquisition was all about Vertical Solutions’ expert talent and our shared culture that puts clients and employees first.”
Bruce Nelson, founder of Vertical Solutions, will head up Vertilocity as president, which will operate from Pittsburgh, Denver and Clark, New Jersey.
“Being a CPA, I was familiar with HBK as a leading top 50 firm with a good reputation and a solid growth strategy,” said Nelson. “Their clients and ours rely on technology to drive more value for their customers. HBK’s people-first approach to business showed me we could work together to create and deploy sophisticated technology solutions to today’s toughest business challenges.”