UST, an Aliso Viejo, California-based digital transformation provider backed by Temasek, is maintaining an active M&A pipeline to strengthen AI-enabled vertical capabilities, said Manu Gopinath, president.

It is seeking acquisitions to deepen its core verticals such as banking and healthcare and selectively expand to adjacent segments where it sees client demand, including automotive engineering, semiconductors and telecom, Gopinath said.

The company’s corporate development team is “actively scouting, talking and engaging” with firms with industry-specific consulting expertise and technical teams that can embed AI into enterprise systems and workflows.

It is in talks with both established and early-stage firms, where it may pilot the firm’s product with its clients before deciding to pursue a transaction, he said.

As previously reported by this news service in July 2024, UST prefers small tuck-in acquisitions. The current sweet spot is firms with roughly 150 to 300 employees, he said, but it would consider smaller specialist teams or larger opportunities where integration risk is manageable.

UST looks for cultural alignment and founder continuity and prioritizes post-deal integration before pursuing additional acquisitions.

The pipeline remains active, Gopinath said, but declined to provide timing for its next deal.

Vertical expansion within M&A framework

Banking and healthcare remain the company’s primary verticals, Gopinath said, while automotive engineering, semiconductors and telecom represent areas of increased client demand.

UST employs more than 30,000 people globally, according to its most recent public disclosures. In 2024, CFO Vijay Padmanabhan said the business would top USD 2bn in revenue in 2025, according to a press report. For this report, Gopinath declined to disclose financials. The company is EBITDA-positive, with S&P Global Ratings previously projecting mid-single-digit organic revenue growth and pro-forma leverage around 3x.

UST recently boosted its core banking capabilities through the acquisition of Texas-based company Tailwind Business Ventures and expanded its automotive exposure through its investment in Italdesign in December 2025.

Italdesign strengthens UST’s presence in the automotive industry, enabling it to leverage expertise in automotive, artificial intelligence, and software-defined vehicle development, “while allowing us to support the creation of fully modern, digitally enabled vehicles,” Gopinath said.

Capabilities developed in one vertical are increasingly deployed across others, particularly within engineering and AI-enabled workflow transformation, Gopinath said.

UST is focused on AI deployment rather than infrastructure. “There are AI infrastructure builders, and then there are AI deployment firms. We’re on the deployment side,” he said.

Acquisitions are intended to bolster organic growth, not replace it, Gopinath said, indicating that 2026 is expected to be stronger than 2025.

UST funds acquisitions primarily through cash flow and long-term bank facilities arranged with a consortium of lenders, he said, adding that recent transactions have been executed in cash rather than equity.

In the July 2024 Mergermarket report, UST’s chief financial officer Vijay Padmanabhan said the company had previously raised a term loan B that was not maturing in the near term and provided additional capacity for acquisitions.

S&P in August 2025 affirmed UST’s ‘BB-’ issuer credit rating and projected pro forma leverage of around 3x following the approximately USD 1.4bn sale of its Healthproof platform.

Proceeds from that transaction were used to repurchase equity rather than repay debt, according to S&P, with leverage then expected to decline toward roughly 2.7x by year-end 2025.

The company, which was founded in 1999, sold a minority stake to Temasek in 2018. In 2024, reports said the company and its sponsor were considering a US initial public offering, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley hired to advise.

Gopinath declined to provide an update on the IPO plans.

UST competes against large global IT services firms as well as smaller AI-focused specialists, he said, positioning itself between large-scale incumbents and niche providers through domain depth and execution experience.

Competitors include large global IT services firms such as Accenture and Deloitte, CFO Padmanabhan previously said.