South Africa-based colocation data centres and interconnection platforms provider for Africa, Teraco Data Environments announced yesterday that it has been acquired by California cloud computing and data centre firm Digital Realty.
Digital Realty is one of the largest providers of cloud and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions in the world. The firm is set to acquire a majority interest in Teraco from a consortium of investors, including Berkshire Partners and Permira.
With the acquisition, “Teraco” will be known as “Teraco: A Digital Realty Company”.
The acquisition of Teraco now adds South Africa to Digital Realty’s three markets on the continent, including Kenya, Mozambique, and Nigeria. Teraco says that the strategic importance of these four markets has only been enhanced by the recent and ongoing implementation of the Equiano subsea cable that is currently encircling Africa.
“Combined with Digital Realty’s highly connected facilities, clients now have access to a choice of strategic connectivity and interconnection platforms that serve all corners of the African market,” Teraco says via the announcement.
“Teraco has made significant progress in achieving our strategic objectives, including improving the connectivity and accessibility of our data centres, in supporting the rapid digital transformation in the region,” says Jan Hnizdo, Teraco CEO.
“Africa is poised to remain a high growth, high-demand area for data centre solutions. Our combined, diversified platform will further enable us to support our customers in the pan-Africa region and worldwide.”
At the start of 2021, Teraco pledged R2.5-billion ($152-million) towards efforts to build Africa’s largest data centre facility in South Africa. In August last year, the firm completed construction on a massive hyperscale data centre campus in the East of Johannesburg.
“We are very excited to complete this transformative transaction that positions Digital Realty as the premier data centre and connectivity provider on the high-growth African continent,” says A. William Stein, CEO Digital Realty.
“Today’s milestone gives us significant regional scale and access to a premier, high-quality portfolio in Africa’s largest market, enhancing our ability to serve growing customer demand for connectivity in the region. We’re thrilled to strengthen our global platform and deepen our commitment to investing in Africa as we capitalise on the tremendous opportunity in the region.”
Edited by Luis Monzon
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