NTT Communications has completed its purchase of German data centre operator E-Shelter for €740m (US$830m).
The Japanese group has acquired 86.7% of the company from Investa Holding, which owns 51% of E-Shelter, and private equity firm ABRY…
NTT Communications has completed its purchase of German data centre operator E-Shelter for €740m (US$830m).
The Japanese group has acquired 86.7% of the company from Investa Holding, which owns 51% of E-Shelter, and private equity firm ABRY Partners, which has a 49% stake.
ABRY will exit entirely and Investa, a real estate developer controlled by E-Shelter’s founder and CEO Rupprecht Rittweger, will retain 13.3% holding. Rittweger will remain as CEO.
NTT Com, a subsidiary of Japanese incumbent telco NTT, said the acquisition makes it the company with the third most data centre space in Europe.
“E-Shelter is a growing company offering high-quality, highly extensible data centre capabilities,” said NTT Com president and CEO Akira Arima.
“We have been impressed by their ability, under the strong leadership of CEO Rupprecht Rittweger, to maintain their position as a leading data centre operator not only in Germany, but the competitive EU market as a whole.”
E-Shelter manages nearly 90,000 square metres of data centre space across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. This includes Campus Frankfurt 1, Europe’s largest data centre with 60,000 square metres of space.
NTT Com says its acquisition of the operator will enhance its financing capabilities to accelerate capital investment as the market in the EU is growing at 9% per year, according to research firm Gartner.
The deal comes as Europe’s data centre market is consolidating. Earlier this year, London-based Telecity Group agreed to buy its Dutch peer Interxion. However, that deal was quashed when American data centre giant Equinix swooped in to snap up Telecity, leaving Interxion at the alter.
Commenting on the E-Shelter sale, the group’s CEO Rittweger said: “To meet [the demands of our customers] ahead of our competitors, we believe that the best way to ensure E-shelter’s growth and development is in partnership with NTT Com, which has a commanding presence in Asia and is a leading provider of ICT services worldwide.
“At the same time, we look forward to strengthening NTT Com’s global ICT infrastructure and market share with our strong presence in Europe.”
