A consortium of Swiss Life Asset Managers and EDF Invest, has agreed to acquire a 27% equity interest in DataBank, a leading U.S. colocation and interconnection data centre operator. The investment will enable Databank to capture the next wave of distributed edge computing demand.
The signing of the acquisition of the 27% stake in DataBank by Swiss Life Asset Managers and EDF Invest was announced today. As an anchor investor, the Swiss Life Asset Managers led consortium intends to support DataBank’s significant growth ambitions in further expanding its data centre footprint across the U.S. Closing is scheduled to occur in Q3 2022, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, DataBank is a leading platform for distributed data centre infrastructure, with more than 65 data centre assets in over 27 established and growing U.S. markets. The company’s primary product is colocation services which provide a combination of space and power for customers’ servers and IT infrastructure. In conjunction with its colocation services, DataBank also provides network and interconnection services such as internet and cross-connects. Cloud infrastructure and high-touch customer IT needs are addressed by the Company’s cloud and managed services. DataBank currently services around 3,200 unique customers.
In recent years, the data centre market and the IT landscape have changed significantly and customer needs have evolved. Increased diversity of workloads with the use of public and private cloud services, and new security and compliance regulations, have made traditional digital space and power offerings obsolete for most users. Data centres operate crucial digital infrastructure. They own and manage facilities which customers use to house servers and networking equipment to store and access data. With data usage growing and the importance of distributed presence, as well as interconnectivity increasing, DataBank is well positioned to capitalise on the significant future growth in digital infrastructure as cloud, content, and technology, especially 5G, push towards the edge of networks.
“We are delighted to have gained the trust of DataBank, its existing shareholders and its highly experienced management team and to be part of their onward journey. Due to the ongoing transformation of digital infrastructure networks, the widespread adoption of working from home, Internet of Things and 5G, the demand for cloud services as well as data storage will increase in the years to come. These are strong tailwinds for data centre platforms such as DataBank, presenting numerous growth opportunities both in the metro and mobile edge segment of the market” comments Gabriel Damiani, Executive Director at Swiss Life Asset Managers.
“DataBank is uniquely positioned to address the growth in data demand within growing markets in the U.S. EDF Invest is excited to diversify its portfolio with this new asset class” says Fanny Grillo, co-Head of Infrastructure at EDF Invest.
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About Swiss Life Asset Managers Infrastructure Equity
Established in 2011, the Swiss Life Asset Managers Infrastructure Equity platform manages over EUR 9bn in AUM for its clients and partners. The team consists of more than 50 investment specialists, with an average of 20 years industry experience across the senior level members. The platform has made over 60 infrastructure investments, across 8 funds, in both direct and fund opportunities across the Energy, Communications, Transportation, Regulated Utilities, Social Infrastructure and Renewable Energy sectors.
About EDF Invest
EDF Invest is the investment arm of EDF for non-listed Dedicated Assets. Dedicated Assets will fund the decommissioning of EDF’s power plants in France. EDF Invest currently manages around €9bn of equity and is targeting around €12 billion in the next few years. Our mission is to diversify EDF’s portfolio of Dedicated Assets and lengthen its investment horizon by targeting three non-listed asset classes in France and abroad: Infrastructure, Real Estate and Funds.
Follow EDF Invest on: www.edfinvest.com / and www.linkedin.com/company/edf-invest
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