Digital Realty, a leading global provider of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions, has entered a $8.4 billion deal to buy Interxion, a data-center operator in Europe. The acquisition will significantly expand the San Francisco-based company’s footprint in Europe. The transaction is expected to close in 2020. Once closed, the deal will make Digital Europe’s second-largest data center provider.
"This strategic and complementary transaction builds upon Digital Realty's established foundation of serving market demand for colocation, scale and hyperscale requirements in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific and leverages Interxion's European colocation and interconnection expertise, enhancing the combined company's capabilities to enable customers to solve for the full spectrum of data center requirements across a global platform," said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein in a statement.
Interxion has internet data centers on significant European internet hubs. Its European business currently consists of 53 carrier- and cloud-neutral facilities in 11 European countries and 13 metro areas, including Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, and Interxion's Internet Gateway in Marseille. Combined with Digital Realty's European footprint, it will create a leading pan-European data center presence, "offering consistent, high-quality services with low-latency access to approximately 70% of the GDP in Europe."
"We are excited to deliver this compelling opportunity for all our stakeholders while bolstering our ability to offer a truly global platform to serve our customers' needs. As part of Digital Realty, stakeholders will have the opportunity to continue to reap the benefits of the value that we have created via the communities of interest approach in our carrier- and cloud-neutral European data center portfolio," said Interxion Chief Executive Officer David Ruberg in the press release issued announcing the deal.
As per the agreement, Interxion shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7067 Digital Realty shares per Interxion share. The transaction values Interxion at approximately $93.48 per ordinary share or approximately $8.4 billion of total enterprise value, including assumed net debt.
Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein will serve as CEO of the combined company. Interxion Chief Executive Officer David Ruberg will serve as the Chief Executive of the combined company's Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) business. Digital Realty Chief Financial Officer Andrew P. Power will serve as CFO of the combined company.
