“Software Jesus” Mark Leonard is diving into the impact of AI on an investor call this morning at 9AM. In January I covered the DeepSeek situation, picking Constellation as a potential winner - but it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the serial acquirer this year…

… given they haven’t been as active on M&A as they’d like to be…

… a theme that’s likely to be magnified by AI, as private equity raises capital to future-proof legacy software - pushing up the price for a finite set of targets.

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Very difficult for us to compete with private equity for some of the large ones. And just generally, it’s just a difficult market out there. For us, some of the prices have really gone up dramatically.

Bernard Anzarouth (CIO) - CSU 2025 AGM

On the positive side, CSU’s hyper-niche VMS approach entrenches it deeply in customer workflows - turning the competitive threat of AI into an opportunity to streamline operations.

With the stock testing it’s long-term average valuation, the event could offer clues about where Canada’s favourite software conglomerate trades next… let’s see.

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