Colt DCS Sells 12 Data Centers, 50+ MW in Europe to AtlasEdge

Colt Data Centre Services (DCS), a hyperscale data center operator backed by Fidelity Investments, today announced that it has completed the sale of 12 colocation data centers in Europe to AtlasEdge Data Centres, a European edge data center provider which is a joint venture between Liberty Global and DigitalBridge’s private equity fund, Digital Colony Partners II, alongside Digital Realty as a minority equity owner.

Overall, AtlasEdge Data Centres is gaining facilities in 11 markets and 9 countries in Europe. In aggregate, these data centers comprise 53.6 MVA of power capacity across 239k sqft (22.2k sqm) of space.

AtlasEdge is acquiring colocation data centers from Colt DCS in Europe’s cities of Amsterdam, Netherlands; Barcelona, Spain; Berlin, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; Copenhagen, Denmark; Hamburg, Germany; London, United Kingdom; Madrid, Spain; Milan, Italy; Paris, France; and Zürich, Switzerland.

AtlasEdge Data Centres – Portfolio and Strategy

AtlasEdge’s data center portfolio comprises 100+ carrier-neutral colocation facilities across 11 European countries. Particularly, these countries are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. This data center portfolio connects to 50+ different on-net carriers and services 700+ customers.

Strategy

For its customers, AtlasEdge Data Centres seeks to optimize network routes, minimize bandwidth costs, and leverage its ecosystem of cloud, content, technology, and enterprise companies to provide additional services. In turn, the company supports localized and low-latency applications that allow customers to be closer to end users.

By acquiring Colt DCS’ colocation data centers, AtlasEdge is expanding its coverage and accelerating its ‘time-to-market’ in 7 new countries.

Customers

AtlasEdge’s data centers intend to serve cloud service providers, over-the-top (OTT) media services, and enterprises. Additionally, as part of the Colt DCS transaction, AtlasEdge is gaining Colt Technology Services, an enterprise and dark fiber provider, which is also backed by Fidelity Investments, as an anchor tenant across multiple facilities.

Regional Presence – Example

AtlasEdge Data Centres discloses detail on its footprint in the United Kingdom which showcases the depth of its presence in the country. Specifically, in the United Kingdom, AtlasEdge has facilities in 25+ locations, including both cities and smaller towns.

For example, these locations include Basildon, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh, Guildford, Hersham, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Preston, Renfrew, Strathclyde, Swansea, Watford, Wokingham, and Wolverhampton.

Colt Data Centre Services (DCS) – Hyperscale Takes Focus

Colt Data Centre Services (DCS) is restructuring its business to focus on developing and operating hyperscale data centers across Europe and Asia-Pacific. Presently, Colt DCS is providing services to hyperscale and large enterprise customers across its 14 carrier-neutral data centers in 8 cities. To this end, the hyperscale facilities that Colt DCS presently owns and operates, including those that are under construction, are not part of the sale to AtlasEdge Data Centres.

Transaction Rationale

Colt DCS’ sale of its 12 colocation data centers will improve the company’s returns on investment and allow the proceeds to be re-invested into hyperscale development projects. In turn, the company can accelerate its hyperscale strategy by increasing its capacity in markets that its customers want to enter and expand in. For example, in August 2021, Colt DCS commenced construction of a 45-megawatt hyperscale data center near Osaka, Japan, as part of its joint venture with Mitsui and CPP Investments.

Over the next 2+ years, Colt DCS will complete the construction of hyperscale data centers in Europe, India, and Japan. As a result, the company will grow its portfolio to have a total IT power capacity of 450+ megawatts.