Riding the wave of M&A activity in the data center industry, Switzerland-based Partners Group will acquire EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure in a $1.2 billion deal to invest in and expand the company, EdgeCore announced.
Four-year-old EdgeCore was one of the first platforms in the data center building boom. Partners Group will "fund the acquisition and development of data centers in new markets," EdgeCore said in a statement.
Already in 2022, there has been $47 billion in transaction activity in the data center space. The record for M&A in the industry is $49 billion, reached in 2021, according to Synergy Research.
While other companies have grown quickly, EdgeCore has taken its time. The company operates data center campuses in Ashburn, Virginia and in Mesa, Arizona. It also owns a prime parcel in Santa Clara, the leading cloud hub in Silicon Valley, as well as in Reno, Nevada.
“The EdgeCore team strongly believes that Partners Group brings value-add dynamics that support the growth of the EdgeCore platform and enhance the data center infrastructure and services we provide to our customers," Tom Ray, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice Chairman said in a statement. "Joining forces with a value-add team was a key goal in our recapitalization of EdgeCore, and Partners Group brings both tremendous capabilities and a strong ethos around creating added value in its portfolio companies by fostering collaboration.”
There is a lot of opportunity in investing in the infrastructure that powers the digital economy, according to Data Center Frontier. As businesses increasingly transition to a digital economy, data centers become ever more critical.
“That’s why the world’s marquee tech companies are adding data center capacity at an unprecedented rate. Building new data centers requires lots of capital, and after many years of wariness about the sector, the investment community is keen on funding cloud infrastructure,” Data Center Frontier says.
The EdgeCore acquisition follows Partners’ 2021 purchase of atNorth, which operates nearly 100 MW of capacity in Iceland, all supported by renewable energy.
