London-based operator Global Switch exploring £8bn sale, reports suggest

With a multi-billion pound data centre sale on the cards, 2021 is beginning where 2020 left off

The Chinese owners of London-based Global Switch have put the veteran data centre operator on the market for £8 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Founded in 1998, Global Switch owns and operates 4,200,000 sq ft of multi-customer, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre space across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Chinese steelmaker Jiangsu Shagang Group became Global Switch’s largest shareholder in August 2019, shortly after the company’s abandoned Hong Kong IPO.

Bloomberg claimed Shagang is actively seeking potential buyers for the giant data centre business, which posted revenues of £429 million in 2019, although talks are preliminary and Shagang remain open to keeping control of the business.

2020 was a record-breaking year for data centre acquisitions, according to market trackers Synergy Research. Almost $31bn worth of data centre deals closed last year, the largest of which was Digital Realty’s monster $8.4 billion acquisition of Interxion.

After releasing its 2020 roundup in December, Synergy’s chief analyst John Dinsdale said 2021 would begin in much the same vein.

“We are also aware of almost $7 billion in deals and IPOs that are at various stages of closing, so the pipeline remains robust despite the flurry of activity in 2020,” Dinsdale said.

“This drive to find new sources of investment capital is being fueled by an almost inexhaustible demand for data centre capacity.”