Transaction Facts

• Chicago-based solution provider AHEAD announced today that it had acquired fellow solution providers RoundTower Technologies and Kovarus, forming a 1,000+ employee business with more than $2.1 billion in revenue.
• Valuation information and other financial details were not disclosed, and integration details were yet to be worked out (though CEOs and executive leadership from both entities were expected to join AHEAD).
• The announcement follows news that Centerbridge Partners and Berkshire Partners had agreed to acquire AHEAD from previous owner Court Square Capital Partners.
• The acquisition is expected to close within 30 days.

martinwolf Analysis

• No Stranger to Acquisition: Today’s AHEAD is the product of a merger with Data Blue and acquisition of Sovereign Systems in October 2019, which brought the company to $1.3 billion in revenue. These transactions were followed by the acquisition of Platform Consulting Group in January–AHEAD’s fourth transaction in six months.
• Building Bigger and Broader: This transaction brings into the AHEAD fold two regional solutions leaders–Cincinnati-based RoundTower with its East Coast focus and San Ramon, Calif.-based Kovarus, which is strong in Silicon Valley and the West.
• (a)Head in the Clouds: These acquisitions continue to grow AHEAD’s cloud services practice, which will total almost $60 million. Together, the firms’ strong managed services practices will be combined into a “differentiated portfolio” within AHEAD, further developing a focus on enterprise cloud infrastructure.
• A COVID-19-era Process: RoundTower and Kovarus did not undertake the traditional broad outreach to identify an acquirer–they leaned heavily on existing relationships and pursued the acquisition as a natural evolution. Leadership among the three firms have long known each other and the process was done entirely with virtual meetings and FedEx’d signature pages.