Digital Realty has announced a 55% controlling stake in Africa’s leading data centre group, Teraco Data Environments. This is Digital Realty’s 3rd acquisition on the African continent following previous ones in Kenya and Nigeria respectively.
- The Digital Realty transaction will enable a stronger Teraco
- The current Teraco Management team to remain
- Existing Teraco investors are rolling forward much of their equity
Teraco is the largest and most densely interconnected data centre platform in Africa, with seven state-of-the-art facilities strategically located in the key South African metros of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Teraco serves over 600 customers, including more than 275 connectivity providers, over 25 cloud and content platforms and approximately 300 enterprises. Teraco facilitates approximately 22,000 interconnections between customers and its Isando campus in Johannesburg is one of the most densely interconnected sites in the world, with over 13,000 cross-connects. Teraco also hosts seven on-ramps to leading global cloud service providers in Johannesburg and Cape Town and currently provides direct access to seven subsea cables in Durban on the east coast and Cape Town on the southwest coast.
Digital Realty had previously gained entry into the Nigerian market by acquiring a stake in Medallion datacentres and iColo in Kenya.
The new stake in Teraco now gives Digital Realty a footprint in South Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban). It gained entry into Lagos Nigeria (through Medallion), Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya (through iColo).
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Solomon Partners is acting as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP and Bowmans are acting as legal advisors to Digital Realty. Goldman Sachs is acting as financial advisor to Teraco and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and ENSafrica are serving as legal advisors to Teraco.
