Open Equity Partners

We buy mid-market
Canadian businesses

Open Equity Partners helps business owners transition their business through a thoughtful and open process.

About Us

Established in 2019, Open Equity Partners is a boutique private equity firm based in Vancouver, Canada. We began by looking to purchase a business from an owner seeking to retire and sell their entire stake or a portion of it. In 2021, OEP made its first investment by acquiring Northern Computer - one of the largest independent IT Managed Service Partners (MSPs) in Western Canada.

The original owner of Northern Computer had devoted over 30 years carefully cultivating the company’s culture and establishing critical relationships with employees, customers and partners. Ensuring that Northern’s unique culture, team and core principles carried on to the next owner was of paramount importance to the previous owner who was set to retire. Given OEP’s deep operational roots we took on that challenge with pride ensuring the transition to new owners was seamless for our employees & customers.

Since the acquisition of Northern Computer, Open Equity Partners has continued its focus on investing in the Canadian IT Service sector by acquiring two additional MSP’s in Alberta - Syncsys and Compufix. Using Northern Computer as our platform to invest in the IT Service sector, Open Equity Partners is looking for additional MSP’s to acquire, integrate and grow.

A key pillar of our investment philosophy is diversification. So in addition to our investments in the IT Service sector, Open Equity Partners continues to look for opportunities in other industries. We are interested in investment opportunities that can provide the basis for long-term value creation. Our primary interest is in mid-market Canadian companies and do not restrict our investments to any specific industry.

Why partner with us

We are entrepreneurs at heart.

Having started and sold a business of our own we know the ups and downs of selling your business.
We partner from Day 1.

Transitioning a business to a new owner is difficult and requires collaboration and partnership.
We are operators.

We love working with teams and rolling up our sleeves.
We think long term.

We understand how long it takes to build a business and want to be the right partners to carry on that legacy. We want to invest and build your company for years to come.
We will make the process simple & straightforward.

We write term sheets & offers anyone can understand.

What we are looking for

There are many types of businesses for sale and determining where to invest capital and time is incredibly difficult. Open Equity Partners put a tremendous amount of value on getting to know the people who make the businesses we evaluate successful.

In addition to looking for strong teams, OEP uses a variety of other criteria to help determine if an investment fits our criteria. Businesses we invest in are typically:

Based in Canada

B2B
Between $1M - $10M of EBITDA
Proven track record of success in their market
Repeat customers with little customer concentration
High employee engagement and satisfaction scores
Strong and stable margins

When we make an investment in a business we are open to either purchasing the entire business (100%) or making a majority investment (51%+). If the business owner doesn’t want to sell their entire business, this can give them the opportunity to retain some equity, take some money off the table and partner with OEP on the next stage of their growth.

Our approach to due diligence and succession planning is straightforward and we are fully committed to ensuring the process is a positive experience for the owner and their teams.