Addison Group, a business services and human capital technology firm, is better positioned to pursue acquisitions after rebuilding its cash reserves, CEO Thomas Moran said.

The Trilantic North America-backed company paid down USD 35m of debt last July and is now pursuing buys more aggressively. Moran also expects M&A activity to pick up as market conditions improve after several years in which economic headwinds limited the number of acquisition targets.

Despite continuing to evaluate opportunities, Chicago-based Addison has not completed an acquisition since its 2021 purchase of non-clinical healthcare staffing and revenue-cycle management company Harmony Healthcare.

Moran said Addison’s current acquisition focus has shifted toward specialized, tech-enabled consulting businesses. Attractive targets include those with Workday, Salesforce, or Oracle expertise, as well as providers of project-based consulting services. The company is evaluating several targets and is likely to close an acquisition within the next eight months, according to the CEO.

Addison’s acquisition sweet spot is companies generating USD 50m to USD 100m in revenue with EBITDA margins of approximately 15% to 20%, Moran said. Addison is focused primarily on US targets but would also consider nearshore companies in Latin America, he said.

Pure-play staffing companies typically trade at around 7x to 9x EBITDA, while consulting firms command 10x to 15x EBITDA, with tech-enabled niche firms sometimes exceeding 20x, the CEO noted.

Moran said Addison has completed approximately nine acquisitions, all funded through cash, potential earn-outs and, when needed, debt. The company aims for approximately 80% of growth to come organically and 20% through tuck-in buys.

Addison provides technology-enabled talent solutions, executive search, and consulting services across IT, finance and accounting, non-clinical healthcare, human resources, administrative, and digital marketing. Its consulting brands span technology, finance transformation, accounting, risk and compliance, cloud implementation, and healthcare workforce consulting. The company focuses on “hard-to-find skill sets,” Moran said.

The business generates more than USD 1bn in revenue, with gross margins exceeding 42% and adjusted EBITDA margins above 11%, according to Moran. Talent solutions account for 62% of revenue, while consulting contributes the remaining 38%.

Moran said Addison’s balance sheet stabilized in the third quarter of last year after several years of flat to moderate growth. High-single-digit revenue growth is expected this year and double-digit growth in 2027, he noted.

Approximately 60% of Addison’s customer base are small- and mid-sized businesses and 40% enterprise customers. The company operates primarily in the US, with additional operations in Canada and the UK.

It pays more than 5,000 employees every week and maintains a network of approximately 3 million candidates, Moran said. The company operates 27 US offices and an office in India.

Across its talent solutions business, Addison competes with Robert Half, Highspring (formerly Vaco), Kforce, Resources Connection, and Insight Global, Moran said. In consulting, its peers include Slalom, Accenture, and Capgemini.

After several years of contraction, sector deal activity has picked up markedly since the start of the year, with staffing firms increasingly expanding into higher-margin consulting and managed services, according to Moran.

He cited recent sector activity including CrossCountry Consulting’s July acquisition of Dupont Circle Solutions and Korn Ferry’s agreement in June to acquire AMS from OMERS Private Equity for approximately GBP 850m (approximately USD 1.1bn). In October 2025, Riveron purchased Eden Data as part of its ongoing CFO advisory roll-up.

Trilantic first invested in Addison in 2013, selling a majority stake to Odyssey Investment Partners in 2016 before reacquiring the business in 2022 alongside minority co-investor Neuberger Private Equity Partners.

According to Moran, Addison is focused on growth over the next 12 to 24 months while positioning the company for an eventual exit, though there is no set timing. He said the preferred exit would be a sale to another PE firm.

Addison works with law firms McGuireWoods and Kirkland & Ellis, and accounting firm RSM US.