Berkshire Partners, a multi-sector investment firm, has taken a majority investment in Ahead, a provider of cloud services, from Centerbridge Partners LP.

Ahead is a company that builds online services for digital businesses using cloud capabilities in software and data engineering. In October 2020, Centerbridge and Berkshire made a joint investment to support the growth of Ahead, with Centerbridge acquiring a majority stake. Berkshire Partners is making an additional investment to become the majority shareholder and aims to use its sector experience in technology, business services and digital infrastructure to help with Ahead’s further expansion. Centerbridge will retain a minority stake.

“Ahead is a very special company. Dan and his team are highly focused on delivering best-in-class technology solutions to their enterprise customers, and on building a vibrant, client-centric culture,” says Larry Hamelsky, a managing director at Berkshire Partners and Drew Walker, a principal at Berkshire Partners. “We’re thrilled to be deepening our collaboration with the team and look forward to supporting their next chapter of innovation and growth.”

Barclays and SVB Securities served as joint financial advisors to Ahead and Centerbridge on the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Ahead and Centerbridge. Guggenheim Securities served as financial advisor to Berkshire Partners. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal counsel to Berkshire Partners.