MSP and IT services
Managed contracts, project work that sits beside them, and cybersecurity practices inside an MSP. Restaurants, retail shops, and other Main Street categories are outside this practice.
Who this practice is for
About 10 to 300 people
Under that, the “company” is often the owner’s job. Over that, a full platform auction is usually a referral to a partner. We say so early.
The Southeast
The primary market is the Southeast. Central Florida and the Space Coast are corridors inside it, including Melbourne, Palm Bay, Viera, Rockledge, Titusville, and Cocoa. Headquarters: 2717 North Wickham Road, Suite 3, Melbourne, FL 32935.
Two ways to start
You own the MSP
Bring the MRR mix, the earnings band, how many hours you still spend on the desk, client concentration, retention, the RMM and PSA, cyber posture, and a timeline. We will tell you whether a sale process is the right next year of work.
You want to buy one
Bring the geography, an MRR floor, the verticals you can actually serve, must-haves such as CMMC, and how much owner dependence you will live with. We do not dress a target up with invented comps.
Shut it down or cash it out?
Burned-out owners often treat those as the only two doors. A prepared MSP — contracts, a desk that runs, books a buyer can read — can be sold. A break/fix shop that is the owner can also be an honest shutdown. The expensive mistake is listing the second one as if it were the first.
How a sale actually moves
Prep, a blind teaser, an NDA, a confidential information memorandum, a letter of intent, diligence, then close. Compare offers on structure, not on a headline multiple. The process page walks each step. Broker versus M&A advisor explains where this desk sits.
Valuation on this site is a sourced range, not a promise. The MSP Valuation Primer reprints Breakwater M&A’s 2026 profile bands and the EBITDA-size bands Breakwater attributes to Aventis Advisors, with the disclaimer in full. IBBR does not guarantee a multiple and does not publish invented comps.
Southeast first. The office is in Melbourne.
The photograph on the home page is an evening launch on the Space Coast. That coast, and Central Florida, are corridors inside the Southeast: contractors, clinics, municipalities, and operators who buy managed IT. The hire answer is who a Southeast MSP owner should hire. Central Florida and the Space Coast is the corridor note. Melbourne, Florida is the office city.
Questions owners ask
How much does it cost to sell?
Selling costs are professional fees, not a valuation multiple. For a mid-market company, total transaction costs are often discussed as about 3 to 10 percent of the price, and the advisory fee is usually the largest line. Smaller deals sit toward the higher percent. International Business Brokerage & Realty writes its fee in an engagement letter before work starts. That letter is the quote. The ranges are planning figures, not a rate card, and not a promise that the fee returns as a higher price.
How long does it take to sell an MSP?
For an MSP or IT services firm, plan on roughly 6 to 12 months from preparation through close. Published guidance from Breakwater often puts a sale at 6 to 8 months, and running past 12 months is not uncommon. The sequence here is prep, a blind teaser, an NDA, a confidential information memorandum, a letter of intent, diligence, then close. That is a planning range, not a date we can promise.
Does private equity or a strategic buyer pay more?
Neither type automatically pays more. A strategic buyer, often another MSP, can pay for overlap with a business they already run. A private-equity buyer or a PE-backed platform underwrites the MSP’s own cash flow and often asks the seller to roll some equity. Compare cash at close, earnout, rollover, escrow, the working-capital peg, and any employment period. The headline multiple is not the offer.
Is the sale confidential?
Yes. Outreach starts with a blind teaser that does not name the company. Client names, contracts, and financial detail go out only after a signed NDA. This practice does not use a public business-for-sale listing as the process for an MSP.
What does AI-assisted diligence mean here?
Software, including AI-assisted review, helps sort contracts, tool exports, and a financial draft so a thick file moves faster. It does not set a price and it does not replace a person. Charles Berry’s desk reads the file before a teaser or a memorandum goes to a buyer. The practice does not claim to be the only brokerage using these tools.
When should a Southeast MSP owner call a broker?
Call when you own an MSP or IT services firm of about 10 to 300 people in the Southeast, including Central Florida and the Space Coast, and you are deciding between a prepared sale and shutting the doors. Named cities on this desk include Melbourne, Palm Bay, Viera, Rockledge, Titusville, and Cocoa. Call before messy books or a weak cyber posture show up in diligence. A much larger platform auction is usually a referral, and we will say so. The office is 2717 North Wickham Road, Suite 3, Melbourne, Florida 32935, (321) 610-6062.
Leverage, with a person still reading the file
A sale piles up contracts, RMM and PSA exports, and a financial model. Software, including AI-assisted review, shortens that pile. Price, risk, and the recommendation still come from a person who has read the file.
Notes for owners and buyers
- MSP Valuation Primer — third-party bands, sources, and the disclaimer.
- MSP exit readiness checklist
- Buy-side target brief — a blank worksheet.
- What it tends to cost to sell — fees, which are not the same thing as a multiple.
- Timeline notes for a lower-middle-market sale
- Private equity and strategic buyers
- Red flags MSP buyers price in
- First 90 days after close
Start with the side you are actually on
Sell-side and buy-side are different conversations. Pick one. If you are outside the size or the geography, say so. We would rather decline than pretend.