Masergy sold to Berkshire Partners

Masergy, a managed service provider, has been sold to Berkshire Partners.

Although Berkshire did not reveal the financial terms of the acquisition, a report in Bloomberg, which cited people close to the matter, said the VC firm paid $900 million, including debt, for Masergy.

RELATED: Masergy launches SD-WAN service, enhances hybrid network concept

This appears to be a transfer of the company.

Previously, ABRY Partners acquired Masergy in 2011 for an undisclosed amount.

As an independent managed service provider, Masergy has established itself as an alternative global service threat to AT&T and Verizon.

As a forward thinking service provider, Masergy has been implementing SDN-based elements to virtualize the way it delivers services to its growing enterprise customer base. The service provider recently joined the growing group of service providers offering SD-WAN services, targeting business customers that want a hybrid network option for their network sites. 

SD-WAN is an approach to designing and deploying an enterprise WAN that uses SDN to determine the most effective way to route traffic to remote locations such as a company branch office.

Venture capitalist firms' interest in service providers is not just relegated to Masergy.

Oak Hill Partners acquired Oxford Networks, a fiber-based provider serving Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, in July. When it completes that acquisition, Oak Hill will combine Oxford's operations with FirstLight Fiber, a fellow Northeast-based fiber provider it previously purchased from Riverside Partners in March.