It looks like Private Equity firms are becoming more active again as buyers for software companies. In one of my current projects, a $50 M software and services company, out of the six seriously interested parties in the final round, 50% are strategic buyers, the other half are financial investors. It turns out that decisions are being made by the latter but only after an extremely thorough evaluation process. The potential for solid, sustainable growth and profits even in difficult environments are mandatory, and were the key decision factors.