7. KKR & Co. Acquires Optiv Security

Head count: 1,462 employees

Annual sales: $947.3 million

Purchase price: $2 billion

Deal closed: Feb. 1 

Optiv's acquisition by private equity firm KKR & Co. will allow the Denver-based company, No. 27 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, to turn its sights on the global security market.

The company's previous owner, the Blackstone Group, helped form the company by orchestrating the merger between Accuvant and FishNet Security. Blackstone will maintain a minority interest in Optiv.

As one of the world's largest private equity firms, KKR would prove critical as Optiv looks to establish its foothold in some nations and expand its presence in others, CEO Dan Burns told CRN in December 2016. 

Having KKR as a parent will additionally allow Optiv to invest further in its cloud security portfolio, Burns said, focusing on areas like identity and access management, data loss prevention, and data security and services.