Alpine Investors Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Comlinkdata to Berkshire Partners

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alpine Investors (“Alpine”), a middle-market private equity firm, today announced that it has agreed to sell Comlinkdata (the “Company”) to Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based investment firm. Comlinkdata is a leading provider of cloud-based data and insights for the telecommunications industry. The acquisition is expected to close in early May. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The Comlinkdata management team, led by CEO Dave Isenberg, will continue with the Company in their current roles.

Alpine acquired Comlinkdata in 2018 and appointed Charles Rutstein as CEO through Alpine’s CEO-in-Residence program. With the help of Alpine’s in-house talent program and under Charles’s leadership, Comlinkdata made five key hires to its executive team including Dave Isenberg, formerly Comlinkdata’s Chief Customer Officer. Isenberg will continue to lead Comlinkdata while Rutstein re-joins the Alpine family as the CEO of AlpineX, a new Alpine investment. Berkshire, with its deep expertise within the communications industry, will support Comlinkdata as it continues to invest in products and solutions to better serve its customers.

Since Alpine’s purchase of Comlinkdata in 2018, the company has grown into a telecommunications data and analytics leader, helping carrier clients attract and retain subscribers. Today the Company serves customer needs across network engineering, marketing, and sales operations functions. Under Alpine’s ownership, Comlinkdata expanded its product portfolio to serve a variety of new client types within the telecommunications ecosystem and built out its sales & marketing team to bring its solutions to new and existing customers globally. Since 2019, Comlinkdata has completed two strategic add-on acquisitions to expand its product capabilities and geographic footprint. In the process, the Company has become among the most trusted data and analytics providers to its clients seeking unique information in the rapidly changing telecommunications world.

“Through our partnership with Alpine, Comlinkdata has been able to build a strong data and analytics business while maintaining an ever-growing roster of happy customers who renew and enrich at best-in-class levels,” said Rutstein. “I’m very proud of what the Comlinkdata team has accomplished in the last three years, and I look forward to watching its continued growth with the support and strategic guidance of Berkshire Partners.”

“Comlinkdata’s mission is to drive the telecommunications industry forward by generating unique customer-centric insights that enable clients to make faster, smarter data-driven decisions,” said Isenberg. “We look forward to working with our new partners at Berkshire to expand our platform and continue our strong growth.”

Raymond James served as the exclusive financial advisor to Comlinkdata and Wilson Sonsini served as legal counsel.

About Alpine Investors

Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm that is committed to building enduring companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine specializes in investments in middle-market companies in the software and services industries. Its PeopleFirst strategy includes a CEO-in-Residence program which allows Alpine to bring proven leadership to situations where additional or new management is needed post-transaction. Alpine is currently investing out of its $1 billion seventh fund. For more information, visit https://www.alpineinvestors.com.

About Comlinkdata

Comlinkdata, founded in 2010, is a leading provider of telecom data and insights. Trusted by telecom brands around the world, the company’s mission is to is to drive the telecommunications industry forward by generating unique customer-centric insights, enabling clients to make data-driven decisions that improve their operational performance. For more information, visit Comlinkdata.com.

About Berkshire Partners

Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based firm, has 35 years of investment history. Berkshire Private Equity has made more than 130 private equity investments since its inception and has a strong history of partnering with management teams to grow the companies in which it invests. The firm has deep expertise in the communications and business services & technology sectors, and also invests in consumer, healthcare, and industrials companies. Example communications and business services & technology investments include Accela, AHEAD, Asurion, Curriculum Associates, Masergy, Teraco, and Vapor IO. For additional information, and to see a full list of the firm’s private equity investments, visit www.berkshirepartners.com.