General Informatics Acquires Versiant, Plans Two More Buys

‘Our overall investment thesis is to get into a new geography by looking for companies that already have organic growth plans. ’We will provide the resources for growth. We’re not looking for a company that says, “We’ve grown as far as we can and now want to sell,”’ says General Informatics President and CEO Don Monistere.

IT managed services provider General Informatics Tuesday unveiled the acquisition of fellow MSP Versiant in the second of what may eventually become four acquisitions in 2021.

Versiant brings to General Informatics a strong focus on data analytics and security services, as well as a geographic expansion into the Charlotte, N.C. area, said Don Monistere, president and CEO of Baton Rouge, La.-based General Informatics.

The Focus MSP team at Focus Investment Banking, a Vienna, Va.-based investment bank helping business buyers or sellers research opportunities, was the exclusive financial advisor to Versiant in the acquisition by General Informatics, and also served as the exclusive financial advisor to General Informatics during its Rosewood deal.

Versiant is the second acquisition in 2021, following the May 2021 tuck-in purchase of Emco Technologies‘ PC sales and managed services division, Monistere (pictured above) told CRN.

[Related: MSP Corp Closes $35M Funding In Aggressive MSP Consolidation Play]

“Hopefully, we’ll finish two more acquisitions in Texas by the end of the year,” he said. ”We’re looking forward to getting them done. That will mean that, within a year, we’ll have more than doubled our size.”

General Informatics last November was acquired by Rosewood Private Investments, a Dallas-based private equity company specifically as a platform to acquire other MSPs and consolidate them into a single organization to take advantage of efficiencies of scale, Monistere said.

The company is looking for acquisitions where there are both a strong cultural fit and the opportunity to expand into new geographies and verticals, he said.

“Our overall investment thesis is to get into a new geography by looking for companies that already have organic growth plans,” he said. ”We will provide the resources for growth. We‘re not looking for a company that says, ’We’ve grown as far as we can and now want to sell.’”

Versiant brings General Informatics a Charlotte, N.C. headquarters and customers throughout the Carolinas and Alabama, along with a focus on the maritime vertical, Monistere said.

“It’s a very interesting vertical for us,” he said. ”We are looking for specific verticals that MSPs serve, and Versiant has specific subject matter experts who are better able to complete in that market.”

Ed Reade, CEO of Versiant, is joining General Informatics as a senior vice president and regional manager, while the company‘s other three principals are retiring, he said.

General Informatics works with a deal broker that helps identify potential acquisition targets, Monistere said. However, he said, his company handles the actual deal and the follow-on integration.

“We integrate the organizations,” he said. ”We want to take advantage of economies of scale over time. The companies as they are operating today are profitable. We don‘t want to make sweeping changes. We see what they do, they see what we do. We have this concept: The best idea wins.”