TA Associates Eyes Data Center Co.

TA Associates appears poised to invest in CoSentry.net LLC, an Omaha, Neb.-based company that provides technical services for data centers and cloud computing, according to a recent regulatory filing.

Boston-based TA Associates would presumably be making the investment out of its $4 billion, eleventh fund, which closed in 2009.

The Federal Trade Commission granted TA early termination of anti-trust review on Oct. 12. Deals often close soon after these filings are made.

The seller is listed as CoSentry.net in the filing, although McCarthy Capital, a private equity firm based in Omaha, invested in the company back in 2008 and lists CoSentry as a portfolio company on its Web site.

CoSentry provides secure data centers, disaster recovery services and managed IT services from facilities in Kansas City, Mo., Omaha and Sioux Falls, Neb.

The company was formed in 2000 in partnership with Norm Waitt Jr., the co-founder of Gateway Computers, according to CoSentry’s Web site.

For TA Associates, the deal would mark its first acquisition since its September buy of Aicent Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based provider data network services to mobile operators. Selling the company was a group of investors including Intel Capital and Warburg Pincus. TA Associates has been buying at a steady clip this year, with a total of six acquisitions since Aug. 1 alone, including CoSentry, according to data provider Capital IQ.

The firm typically invests $60 million to $500 million in equity in businesses valued at $150 million to $3 billion. The firm targets communications, computers, financial services, Internet infrastructure and software.

Executives at TA Associates, McCarthy and CoSentry did not return calls seeking comment.