Digital Realty expands into Latin America with $1.8bn acquisition of Ascenty
Tue 25 Sep 2018
Digital Realty has announced it is to acquire Ascenty, a leading data centre provider in Brazil.
While Ascenty will be sold for $1.8 billion, an additional $425 million investment covering data centre development will take the final figure to $2.25 billion.
Ascenty owns and operates eight top-tier data centres located in key metro areas.
Its fibre optic system also provides unrivalled access to major Brazilian telecom operators and subsea cable networks.
The acquisition establishes Digital Realty – which already owns 32.1 million square feet of data centre facilities worldwide – as a leading data centre provider in Latin America.
Due to its working-age population experiencing rapid digitisation, the firm views the region as a promising opportunity for data centre growth.
With the agreement, the data centre giant hopes to firmly establish a foothold in the region.
Digital Realty chose to co-invest alongside global asset manager Brookfield due to its experience in investing in the region.
Digital Realty CEO Bill Stein was excited about the opportunity to expand, saying: “We expect this acquisition will further accelerate our growth while enhancing our ability to support our customers’ digital transformation across the globe.”
Ascenty CEO Chris Torto also spoke positively of the acquisition and its implications for the region. “Our combined platform will be uniquely positioned to provide our customers the full spectrum of data centre solutions,” he said.
