Berbee Changes Hands in Private Equity Deal

Wisconsin technology services company Berbee Information Networks Corp. looks like it will change hands as part of a private equity deal to acquire its parent company, CDW Corp. Madison Dearborn is offering to buy CDW Corp., of Vernon Hills, Ill., for $7.3 billion, or $87.75 per share.

Berbee, a Madison-based technology services company, is the anchor tenant in a 51,000 square foot data center project in Fitchburg, Wisc. Berbee already has two data centers - one in Madison and one in Minneapolis - and employs more than 700 people in 11 Midwestern cities.

The sale of an anchor tenant can be an anxious moment for a data center developer. Berbee chief executive officer Paul Shain told the Wisconsin State Journal that it expected no major strategic changes as a result of new ownership. "It's really not going to impact Berbee operations at all," Shain said.