M&A blog April: IT, Cyber & Professional Services PE-backed

2. Grant Thornton board agrees to sell to PE-backed American counterpart

Grant Thornton Advisors LLC has announced that Grant Thornton Australia is advancing plans to join its multinational platform, a rapidly expanding group of nearly 20 aligned firms spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. For the Grant Thornton Advisors platform, the transaction would bring additional scale and momentum tied to the Australian firm’s annual revenues of USD $282M (AUD $392M), 1,500 employees and six offices. It would also benefit from Grant Thornton Australia’s market strength and reputation for quality. The result: an even stronger ability to serve clients with integrated, multidisciplinary teams that coordinate seamlessly across borders — as well as added capacity to deliver innovative solutions backed by consistent, technology-enabled engagement teams that share a commitment to quality. In addition, the transaction would significantly expand the Grant Thornton Advisors platform’s Asia Pacific presence, building on its footprint in New Zealand and opening new pathways for regional growth. For Grant Thornton Australia, the proposed transaction is the result of an extensive strategic review, during which its board evaluated multiple pathways to advance the firm’s ambitious strategy. The transaction has been recommended by the board and would close later this year subject to shareholder partner approval and standard regulatory conditions. It would accelerate Grant Thornton Australia’s growth strategy, expanding its access to world‑class AI and technology capabilities, while creating compelling career pathways for its next generation of partners and high‑performing professionals. Importantly, it would preserve the local market culture and agility that define Grant Thornton Australia. Through the proposed deal, Grant Thornton Australia would continue to provide best-in-class advisory and tax services, and its audit practice would remain committed to independence and stringent governance — demonstrating a focus on the highest quality standards and adhering to all regulatory requirements. Grant Thornton Australia would continue to be part of the Grant Thornton International Limited network, which comprises member firms in more than 150 markets worldwide.

3. Oxford Economics buys Australian construction specialist Macromonitor

Global economics and research consultancy Oxford Economics has purchased Australian construction sector specialist Macromonitor, which has been active for close to two decades. Based in Sydney, Macromonitor is led by three-and-a-half-decade industry veteran Nigel Hatcher, who was up until 2007 an associate director at BIS Shrapnel, which Oxford Economics later acquired in 2017 before its rebranding in 2023. A frequent commentator in the local media and backed by a small team of economists, Macromonitor focuses entirely on research and forecasting for Australia’s building and construction industry, including as to cost and demand projections. Walker, once a management consultant at KPMG in the UK who also serves on Oxford Economics’ global board and as deputy CEO out of Sydney since joining in 2013 (the firm was founded by the late John Walker in 1981), further said that its Australian arm will now be able to offer an “unparalleled combination of local expertise and global macroeconomic insight.”

4. Arcadea Group acquires JAIX

JAIX, a leading independent transport and logistics ERP software provider, today announced its acquisition by Arcadea Group, a preeminent, long-term investor in high-quality vertical software businesses. The partnership marks an important new chapter for JAIX, supporting the company’s continued product innovation, client success, and long-term growth across the Australian and New Zealand logistics and warehousing markets. Founded in Adelaide in 1985 by Heather and Dick Thornton, JAIX has spent over 40 years building an enterprise grade, deeply integrated logistics management system. Today, JAIX provides a modular, cloud-hosted platform spanning freight, warehouse management, dispatch, finance, fleet management, workshop, client portals, and reporting. These solutions provide critical support to clients running complex and multimodal operations on a single, highly integrated system. As part of this transition, Co-Founder and CEO Heather Thornton will retire from the business and Michael Stock, JAIX’s current COO, will be promoted to replace Heather as CEO. Michael began his career with JAIX in 2009 and rejoined the company in 2023, where he has helped drive continuous improvement, structural change, and scalability across the organisation. JAIX’s broader leadership team will continue to support the business through its next phase of growth. Mike Holmes, with 24 years of invaluable service to JAIX will continue to lead innovation as the Chief Product Officer.

5. Count acquires financial advisory firm Oracle Advisory Group in $70 million deal

Accounting and advisory firm Count is continuing its run of acquisitions with the purchase of financial advisory and wealth management firm Oracle Advisory Group in a deal worth over $70 million. Its heritage dating back almost four decades, Oracle Advisory Group was formed in its current guise in 2017 under the leadership of original founder Peter Durbin, and today has more than a dozen outlets in the eastern states pushing towards $30 million in revenues. Meanwhile, Count has now bumped its own revenues beyond the $140 million mark over the past few years via a string of acquisitions, including most recently McGing Advisory & Actuarial in Melbourne, with the firm now hovering behind HLB for a top-fifteen spot. Emerging from Morgans Financial, Oracle Advisory Group altogether has 14 offices spread across New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, including in each state capital, with an overall count of around 50 financial advisors and accountants. The group, which will ultimately be rebranded, has approximately $1.8 billion in funds under advice and $800 million under management. The equivalent figures for Count currently stand at roughly $40 billion and $5 billion, supported by a nationwide community of around 550 advisers, 500 accountants, and 19 equity partner investments. In outright acquiring Oracle Advisory Group, rather than opting for its ‘owner-driver’ model used previously, Count will increase its employed adviser numbers from around 75 to almost 100.

6. BGH-backed Horizon Nexus goes national with Perth acquisition

This month, the negotiating team has gone west to thrash out a similar deal with advisory, tax, auditing and accounting services business Nexia. The team, led by managing director Mal Di Giulio, will join Silverwood and Jeraj, adding five equity partners and eight non-equity partners with roots in the West Australian business and private wealth community to the mix. This will bring Horizon Nexus’ total staff number to 250 with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth once its acquisitions are finalised. Nexia is one of Australia’s leading national mid-tier accounting firms, clocking revenue of $143 million last financial year. Di Giulio was the chair of Nexia Australia until last month, when he was succeeded by corporate advisory partner Brent Goldman. Nexia’s Perth unit pitches itself as an outsourced chief financial officer for small mining businesses. It also has a client base of ultra-high net worth individuals, turning over annual revenue about the $25 million mark. The carve-outs of PKF Brisbane and Nexia Perth show Horizon Nexus’ pitch is cutting through. Apart from the deal terms, which are understood to be generous, the firm positions itself as a newcomer, unencumbered by legacy technology and administrative systems and willing to invest in artificial intelligence. It’s also an integrated firm, not a network, with a common back office. Horizon Nexus’ focus on attracting Big Four talent is also a selling point for senior mid-tier partners looking for a deep-pocketed partner to buy out their equity and present a client succession plan.

7. WhiteHawk swoops on Quixxi acquisition for AI governance support

US-headquartered cyber security exchange operator WhiteHawk is set to acquire Sydney-based Quixxi to expand into the AI governance and digital risk management space. WhiteHawk, which listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in 2018, said that Quixxi’s technologies of API security, mobile application protection, threat detection, digital asset resilience and breach monitoring will extend its own cyber risk and compliance capabilities. The cyber security vendor’s Quixxi Clarity AI platform allows organisations to automatically identify and manage AI systems deployed in enterprise environments. It contains capabilities for AI model governance and lifecycle management, monitoring model safety, reliability, and operational performance, identification and management of operational and compliance risks, and support for regulatory compliance across AI deployments. Quixxi also has an international customer base covering government, financial services and enterprise sectors, with it generating around $575,000 revenue in the 2025 financial year. Its work in Australia specifically sees it developing a pipeline in the financial services sector, which includes opportunities with banks, fintech companies and regulated financial institutions.  WhiteHawk also said it intends to integrate Quixxi’s Clarity AI platform into its own enterprise cyber risk platform in a phased strategy as it gains the vendor’s intellectual property, including two US patent applications for mobile application security technologies. However, most of Quixxi’s staff will not transition to the new ownership. In an email sent to ARN, WhiteHawk CEO Terry Roberts said there will be “an optional alignment of talent” of the vendor’s employees as the operator has a “capable development and client solution team”, with only a couple key personnel onboarded.

8. A Corp Computers acquires managed services client portfolio of LAN Creation

A Corp Computers has entered into an agreement to acquire the managed services client portfolio of LAN Creation, an IT services provider supporting businesses across Newcastle, the Hunter Valley, and greater New South Wales. LAN Creation is a Newcastle-based IT services provider founded in 2001, delivering managed IT services, cybersecurity solutions, and technology consulting to SMBs across NSW in a range of industries including hospitality, professional services, manufacturing, healthcare, and not-for-profit organisations. A Corp Computers, founded 2008 in the Hunter Valley, provides managed IT services, cybersecurity, and connectivity solutions to organisations across NSW. A Corp said that LAN Creation’s managed services clients will benefit from access to the company’s broader technical resources, expanded cybersecurity capability, and a larger engineering team, while continuing to work with the same people. LAN Creation founder Rod Arthur will remain closely involved with clients as part of the A Corp team.

9. Canva has acquired Simtheory and Ortto

Canva has acquired Simtheory, an AI workspace and collaboration platform for building custom agents, and Ortto, a customer data and marketing automation company, as part of its continued investment in powerful AI and marketing automation. Simtheory accelerates its evolution from a design platform with AI tools, to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core; while Ortto strengthens our growing suite of marketing products. Both companies were founded by Chris and Mike Sharkey, and will accelerate their work in building powerful agentic experiences and powering the entire marketing and content lifecycle, unlocking the ability to ideate, create, edit, publish, measure, and optimise without ever leaving Canva.

Simtheory: All AI workflows, all in one place – The explosion of AI tools has made it easier than ever to get started, but generating something is only one step in a much bigger process. For most teams, bringing an idea to life is still too complex and disconnected, spread across too many tools, tabs, and workflows. Simtheory was built to solve that. Their platform makes it easy for teams to think and work with AI, enabling them to build assistants that understand their business, collaborate across tasks and tools, and take on real work with the control and reliability enterprises need. It’s the kind of system that gives teams real confidence in AI, and it’s quickly built a strong following.

Ortto: The entire marketing lifecycle, now connected – For today’s marketing teams, launching a campaign means juggling data, content, channels, and performance across disconnected tools. Too often, that means spending more time coordinating than creating. Ortto was designed to solve this by bringing everything into one place. Their platform combines customer data with end-to-end marketing automation, from email and SMS to push notifications, in-app messaging, forms, and surveys, making it straightforward to reach the right people at the right moment without the usual back-and-forth between systems. The platform is trusted by more than 11,000 customers across 190 countries, and it’s easy to see why.

10. Virtual IT Group purchases Security Centric for cyber boost

Virtual IT Group has acquired consultancy Security Centric, boosting its cyber capabilities. Security Centric specialises in managed detection and response, governance, risk, and compliance, security engineering, and technical assurance. As such, the acquisition will take VITG’s security practice headcount to approximately 45 and bolster its 24/7 Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) security operations centre (SOC), automation platform, and end-to-end security offerings. This includes Security Centric CEO Sash Vasilevski, who will transition to the role of VITG chief security officer. Collectively, the organisation has more than 400 employees in 10 offices across Australia and New Zealand.

11. Technology consultancy efex continues acquisition spree with Priority 1 deal

Advent Partners-backed technology consultancy efex has continued its national expansion through the acquisition of Queensland-based Priority 1, which focuses on the healthcare sector. Established by Jamie Patch in Toowoomba in 2013 and covering Queensland’s Darling Downs region west of Brisbane, Priority 1 provides managed solutions to medical sector clients covering cloud, cybersecurity, automation, and managed IT. Meanwhile, efex, which was sold to private equity firm Advent Partners towards the end of last year with an M&A mandate, continues to build on that promise, having less than two months ago also acquired Shepparton-based IT consultancy Compusult. Bought for an undisclosed sum, Priority 1 is efex’s seventh addition in the space of two or so years, its overall tally now sitting around the one dozen-mark. The company recently changed hands from Alceon to Advent, and now has somewhere in the range of 350 professionals, with a strong focus on supporting regional Australia SME businesses locations such as Albany, Berri and Bendigo.

12. NEC Australia furthers cloud, data, AI skills with Exco Partners buy

NEC Australia has improved its standing with cloud, data, and AI skills through the acquisition of Melbourne-based Exco Partners. Founded in 2000, Exco describes itself as a consulting and digital service company, with offers over the four key practice areas of design, data, engineering, and delivery. NEC said in a statement the consultancy is also supported by strong Microsoft partnership credentials and has a proven track record delivering complex government case management solutions. Following the acquisition, Exco will retain its brand and headcount of approximately 70 employees but operate as a business unit within NEC Australia to provide cloud, data, and AI services while complementing its strengths in IT managed services, unified communications, biometrics, digital government, and mission-critical digital solutions. It will also add “An NEC Company” to its company name. NEC Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) CEO Keith Morrison said the multinational service provider’s customers are navigating increasingly complex digital and AI-driven transformations, typically in highly regulated and mission-critical environments.

13. Vection Technologies takes steps towards DXLabs acquisition

Extended reality (XR) software vendor Vection Technologies has executed a share sale agreement to acquire no code service provider Digital Experience Labs (DXLabs) after completing a series of key condition precedents. The deal, which was first announced in September last year, sees Vection purchase all of DXLabs for an upfront consideration of $2.1 million in scrip. After completing these, ARN understands that the acquisition will now proceed without condition and the deal has a new target completion date of 9 April. All DXLabs staff are expected to remain with the provider with a statement published on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) noting that its CEO, Luis Nejo, is committed to growing the business in key markets in Australia and Asia. If the deal is successful, Vection estimates integration will take a month. Back in September, Vection managing director Gianmarco Biagi said the deal will allow the vendor to strengthen its Australian footprint, add immediate revenue ands earnings before interest and tax, provide Vection with an Asia Pacific (APAC) launch pad, and onboard a proven team with enterprise customers in key industries.

14. Kapish acquires iCognition for information management boost

Consulting outfit, Kapish has acquired service provider iCognition to bolster its skillset across information management, as well as enterprise architecture and cyber security. As a result of the deal, Kapish will broaden its locations across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. Customer benefits, according to Kapish, include an expansion to its range of products and solutions, increased delivery capacity, continued support, and accelerated innovation and development. Kapish managing director Ryan Harris said the acquisition is a natural step forward for the two businesses.

15. ASI Solutions buys NSW schools tech partner JTC Technology

ASI Solutions has announced the acquisition of Sydney-based JTC Technology, which has provided IT support to schools for more than 25 years.  JTC Technology has more than 60 staff and all are joining ASI Solutions, it stated. JTC Technology’s revenue was not disclosed. The company was owned by managing director Mark Harrison, who will “continue to look after and expand the offering within ASI Solutions business”, ASI Solutions stated.  According to the JTC Technology web site, it provides IT support services to “100 schools across the Sydney metropolitan, Central Coast, Newcastle and Lower Hunter regions, with a mix of NSW Department of Education and Independent schools.” The website also stated the company had “expanded our scope of work to also support government departments and other educational institutions as well as schools.” It will continue to support its existing customers while progressively integrating with ASI’s broader service capability over time, the acquisition announcement stated. JTC Technology is “known for its long-term customer relationships and its understanding of how technology operates within school environments”, ASI Solutions stated. JTC Technology has “deep local relationships, a proven service model, and a clear understanding of their customers. That alignment in how they operate was important to us,” stated Justin Lowe, director at ASI Solutions.