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Masergy Sells to Berkshire Partners

**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting mergers in July-August 2016.**

The latest M&A involving channel-centric companies is Boston-based investment firm Berkshire Partners acquiring global service provider Masergy Communications.

Masergy offers hybrid networking, managed security and cloud communications services to medium and large enterprise customers. It serves enterprise clients in more than 75 countries.

Berkshire has made more than 115 investments since its founding in 1986 and has raised nine private equity funds with more than $16 billion in aggregate capital commitments. It claims industry experience in several areas, including consumer and retail, business services, industrials, communications and transportation.

The financial details regarding the acquisition are not being disclosed.

Chris MacFarland, Masergy’s CEO, tells Channel Partners the acquisition will “only have a positive effect on our partnerships and ability to deliver outstanding service to our mutual clients.”{ad}

“The current management team is investing materially alongside Berkshire and together believe we can realize our growth aspirations,” he said. “The transaction is expected to close within 90 days and the current management team will remain intact.”

Masergy has received positive feedback from its key partners about the acquisition, MacFarland said.

“This is the latest step in our recent activities around creating new opportunities for our partners,” he said. “We recently bolstered our partner efforts through promotions within our leadership team, adding new emphasis to our partner programs. Our recent announcements, such as Masergy’s Managed SD-WAN and global UCaaS expansion, are seen as exciting opportunities for partners to bring capabilities to market that address customers’ need for agile and high-performance services.”

Masergy’s Global Partner Program includes four partner levels: Reseller, Certified, Gold and Platinum.

“As we look forward, our mission remains the same: Develop highly innovative solutions that help our clients digitally transform their business,” MacFarland said. “Berkshire brings the experience and financial backing that will help us fulfill our vision. This transaction will further accelerate our continued investments in the talented staff and innovative solutions that deliver real results for our mutual clients and help partners grow their business to new levels.”

“We are excited to partner with Chris and his exceptional team,” said Tom Kuo, Berkshire managing director. “Given the accelerating rate of change across the information technology landscape, there are significant opportunities for Masergy to continue its impressive growth and this is a team, company and culture that we are excited to invest behind.”