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By Published On: May 17, 2024

FOCUS Investment Banking’s MSP Team Represents Network Computing Group in its Sale to Cantey Tech

Washington, DC, (May 16, 2024) – FOCUS Investment Banking (“FOCUS”), a national middle market investment banking firm providing merger, acquisition, divestiture and corporate finance services, announced today that the assets of Network Computing Group (“NCG”), a Roanoke, Virginia-based provider of IT managed services, have been acquired by Cantey Tech Consulting (“Cantey Tech”), a 10-time Inc. 5000 fastest growing private company in America and leading IT managed service provider (“MSP”) for small and mid-sized businesses in the Southeast United States backed by LNC Partners (“LNC”) with $700 million of committed capital. FOCUS served as exclusive financial advisor to NCG. Previously FOCUS served as exclusive financial advisor to Cantey Tech in its Platform transaction with LNC and exclusive financial advisor to Palindrome Consulting in its sale to Cantey Tech.

The addition of NCG to Cantey Tech, which is based in Charleston, South Carolina, is a part of an integrated “better together” MSP strategy and builds on successful acquisitions in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina. The transaction will provide NCG’s clients with additional service capabilities (particularly in security and project management) as well as the deep knowledge base and resources of Cantey Tech’s 120+ employees.

“From the beginning, we knew this was a good cultural fit and we are excited to work with the remarkable team at NCG,” said Willis Cantey, Cantey Tech’s CEO. “We are committed to taking great care of NCG clients and employees with our integrated team approach.”

“We are proud of supporting our Roanoke clients for more than 25 years and I wanted to make sure that I found a partner that would take care of those clients and our people,” added Mark Bowles, NCG’s founder and President. “We made the right choice with Cantey Tech.”

Cantey Tech provides a broad offering of IT managed services, including IT consulting services, help desk support, data security, cloud management, backup and disaster recovery, hosting, application support and vendor management. The company leverages its local focus and presence to provide a high level of responsive support to small and mid-sized businesses. Cantey Tech’s team, including its Virtual CIOs, takes the time to carefully understand each client’s business goals and objectives, then develops a customized technology plan and budget to maximize the client’s success.

“It was an honor and privilege to represent NCG in this transaction,” commented Abraham Garver, FOCUS MSP Team Leader and Managing Director. “Mark Bowles commitment to excellence with his customers and employees was evident throughout the process. Mark and his team’s decision to join together with Cantey Tech, which has the distinct honor of being a 10-time Inc. 5000 fastest growing private company supported by growth investor LNC Partners, is an incredible opportunity for customers, employees and everyone involved!”

*These testimonials may not be representative of the experience of all clients; testimonials are not a guarantee of future performance or success.

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Abraham Garver is a MSP banker for FOCUS Investment Banking. Over the past four years the team has advised on MSP transactions with 76 parties including catapulting the 12 MSP below into “New Platforms” for private equity sponsors:

The Purple Guys (ECS + My IT)
TechMD (formerly ICS)
General Informatics
Integris (Domain + Tier 1)
Cantey Tech (Cantey Tech + Cantey EDU)
CyberSheath
ITS (Intelligent Technical Solutions + Intivix + PC Miracles)
Entech (Entech + ITVantage)
ProVelocity + IronEdge
Lockstep + Renovus Capital
MSP Corp + Groupe Access

Over his career Mr. Garver has worked on sell-, buy- and valuation assignments with approximately 150 public, private, and fastest-growing members of the MSP 501, CRN500, ChannelE2E Top 100 & Inc. 500 and served as a guest commentator on Bloomberg, MSP Business School and at NASDAQ.

Mr. Garver is a recurring conference speaker for IT Nation Connect, Channel Partners and MSSP Alert Live and recurring news source for ChannelE2E, CRN, Channel Futures, TechTarget & PEHub. As an author he has contributed over 125 articles in numerous publications including FORBES.

Prior to joining FOCUS, Abraham worked with Merrill Lynch’s M&A Technology Group in San Francisco and E&Y’s Business Valuation Group in Los Angeles. In addition to his professional pursuits, Mr. Garver is a member of The University Club of New York and Governor (Emeritus) of the University of Southern California Alumni Association.

Mr. Garver holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, and a master’s degree in finance from the Manderson Graduate School. He is registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as a General Securities Representative (Series 7 and 63) and a Limited Representative – Investment Banking (Series 79).

Recent MSP/MSSP Deal Experience
MSP Corp
ProVelocity
Entech Computer Services, Inc.
Cantey Technology Consulting, LLC
Golden Technologies, Inc.
Security7 Networks, LLC
DS Tech
Versiant Corporation, Inc.
Cantey Technology Consulting, LLC
The Network Support Company, LLC
Integrated Computer Solutions of Vestal, LLC
DSM Technology Consultants, LLC
Intelligent Technical Solutions, Inc.
Lighthouse Technology Partners
Accelerate, Inc.
CMS IP Technologies
Unicom Technologies
CyberSheath Services International, LLC
AKUITY Technologies
General Informatics
Frontenac XI Private Capital, L.P.
ECS Acquisition Holdings, LLC