AHEAD ACQUIRES ROUNDTOWER TECHNOLOGIES AND KOVARUS, CONTINUING STRATEGIC EXPANSION ACROSS NORTH AMERICA
Enterprise cloud leader establishes national footprint, with $2.1 billion in gross revenue, including advanced managed service capabilities
CHICAGO – September 22, 2020 — AHEAD, a leading provider of platforms for digital business, today announced plans to acquire technology solution providers RoundTower Technologies and Kovarus. The acquisitions will create scale, national reach and a more holistic services portfolio for AHEAD, resulting in a business with over 1,000 employees and $2.1 billion in gross revenues.
“The addition of RoundTower and Kovarus to the AHEAD team solidifies our position as the premier provider of digital infrastructure and modern applications in the U.S.,” said Daniel Adamany, CEO of AHEAD. “Together, we’ll better meet the end-to-end needs of our enterprise clients, from strategic consulting to complex implementations to managed services for ongoing operations—all while maintaining the deep platform expertise on which we were founded.”
Cincinnati-based RoundTower strengthens AHEAD’s presence in the eastern half of the U.S., particularly in Ohio, New England, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Based in San Ramon, Calif., Kovarus adds presence in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, and brings high-profile Silicon Valley clients into the AHEAD account base. All three firms offer robust managed services, to be combined into a more differentiated portfolio within AHEAD.
“With similar backgrounds and business models, this partnership has been a long time coming,” said Stephen West, managing partner at RoundTower. “Joining forces with AHEAD and Kovarus will significantly elevate the level of service available to our clients and further separate us from the competition.”
The news comes just weeks after an announcement that private investment management firm Centerbridge Partners, L.P. intends to purchase a majority stake in AHEAD. The relationship is designed to accelerate AHEAD’s market leadership in enterprise cloud infrastructure, deepen its services offerings and facilitate acquisitions like those of RoundTower and Kovarus.
“Culture makes all the difference when it comes to combining companies,” said Peter Castaldi, principal and co-founder of Kovarus. “Our three firms share similar values and purpose, as well as deep commitments to client success. We look forward to bringing a larger portfolio of services to help our customers on their digital transformation journeys.”
AHEAD recently embarked on a phase of strategic expansion, completing four prior growth transactions over the past 15 months—acquiring Link Solutions in July 2019, merging with Data Blue while acquiring Sovereign Systems in late 2019 and acquiring Platform Consulting Group at the beginning of 2020. The Kovarus, RoundTower and Centerbridge transactions are expected to close simultaneously by the end of October 2020.
About AHEAD
AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in enterprise cloud infrastructure, intelligent operations, and modern applications, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation. Learn more at aheadweb.wpengine.com and follow us on Twitter at @ahead.
About RoundTower Technologies
RoundTower Technologies delivers innovative solutions and services in the areas of data center infrastructure, converged platforms, cloud automation and orchestration, DevOps, data analytics, and cyber security. RoundTower enables its customers to become more agile, efficient, and secure through the use of technology. Learn more at www.roundtower.com. Raymond James and Associates, Inc. served as exclusive financial advisor to RoundTower in this transaction.
About Kovarus
Kovarus helps companies modernize and automate IT. We enable businesses to transform IT service delivery to help them accelerate innovation and deliver cost-effective business outcomes. Kovarus has helped some of the greatest companies in the world by leveraging the Kovarus Solutions Portfolio of best-in-class technologies and services to deliver business services faster, at scale and more effectively to provide them a competitive advantage. To learn more, please visit www.kovarus.com.