M&A Deal Summary

Digital Realty Acquires Ascenty

On September 24, 2018, Digital Realty acquired communications company Ascenty from Great Hill Partners, The Blackstone Group and SDC Capital Partners for 1.8B USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Digital Realty’s 1st transaction in the Communications sector.
  • This is Digital Realty’s 3rd largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Digital Realty’s 1st transaction in Brazil.

M&A Deal Summary

Date 2018-09-24
Target Ascenty
Sector Communications
Buyer(s) Digital Realty
Sellers(s) Great Hill Partners
The Blackstone Group
SDC Capital Partners
Deal Type Add-on Acquisition
Deal Value 1.8B USD
Advisor(s) Citizens Digital Infrastructure M&A Advisory (Financial)
Choate Hall & Stewart (Legal)

Target

Ascenty

Campinas, Brazil
Ascenty is the largest data center provider in Brazil, with seven data centers currently operating and an additional data center under construction. The company was founded in 2010 and has focused on building world-class data centers while serving some of the largest global technology companies. All the company’s data centers are interconnected using a proprietary 4,000 km fiber-optic network.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Digital Realty

Austin, Texas, United States

Category Company
Sector Information Technology
Employees3,664
Revenue 5.5B USD (2023)
DESCRIPTION

Digital Realty is a provider of data center and colocation solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty Trust is based in Austin, Texas.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 4 of 6
Sector (Communications) 1 of 1
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 2 of 3
Country (Brazil) 1 of 1
Year (2018) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 3 of 4
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2016-05-16 Equinix - European Assets

United Kingdom

Equinix, Inc. - European Assets includes carrier-neutral data centers in Europe.

Buy $874M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2019-10-29 InterXion

Hoofddorp, Netherlands

InterXion Holding N.V. is a provider of carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data center services in Europe, serving a wide range of customers through 52 data centers in 11 European countries. Interxion’s uniformly designed, energy-efficient data centers offer customers extensive security and uptime for their mission-critical applications.

Buy $8.4B

Seller(S) 3

SELLER

Great Hill Partners

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1998
PE ASSETS 12.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Great Hill Partners is a private equity firm focused on growth equity and recapitalization investments in well established public and private companies valued put to $1 billion. Great Hill targets companies within consumer services, business services, financial technology, healthcare, internet, logistics, media, communications, technology services, software and transaction processing. The Firm invests in the range of $25 to $500 million per transaction. Great Hill prefers companies located in the US, but will also consider opportunities in Europe and Latin America. Great Hill Partners was formed in 1998 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 37 of 61
Sector (Communications) 4 of 4
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 27 of 38
Country (Brazil) 3 of 3
Year (2018) 4 of 6
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 23
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2018-08-09 Shade Store

Port Chester, New York, United States

Shade Store is an omni-channel provider of custom window treatments in the United States with over 60 showrooms nationwide. Shade Store offers a complete range of design, manufacturing, measuring and installation services for both consumers and design professionals. Shade Store was founded in 2006 and is based in Port Chester, New York.

Sell -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2018-10-16 Ikon Science

Surrey, United Kingdom

Ikon Science is a global provider of geo-prediction software for oil and gas exploration and production companies. Ikon Science was founded in 2001 and is based in Surrey, United Kingdom.

Buy -
SELLER

The Blackstone Group

New York, New York, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1987
PE ASSETS 131.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

The Blackstone Group is a global alternative investment management firm. The Firm's investment activities span real estate, secondary investments, hedge funds, credit, infrastructure, and private equity. Blackstone's private equity group targets opportunities globally including buyout acquisitions of established companies, development projects, growth equity financings, and industry consolidations. Sectors of interest include automotive, healthcare, chemicals, industrial, commercial property, lodging, communications, media/publishing, consumer & retail, packaging, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, energy, technology, entertainment, telecommunications, financial services, theme parks, food & beverage, and transportation. Blackstone's private equity real estate group looks for opportunities across North/South America, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, and Europe. The real estate group will consider both equity and debt investments. Areas of interest include healthcare, hotel, industrial, office, residential, and retail. The Blackstone Group was formed in 1987 and is based in New York, New York.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 122 of 173
Sector (Communications) 14 of 15
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 43 of 67
Country (Brazil) 1 of 2
Year (2018) 7 of 13
Size (of disclosed) 24 of 57
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2018-08-09 TaskUs

New Braunfels, California, United States

TaskUs is a provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to companies, helping its clients represent, protect and grow their brands. Leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure, TaskUs serves clients in the fastest-growing sectors, including social media, e-commerce, gaming, streaming media, food delivery and ridesharing, HiTech, FinTech and HealthTech. TaskUs was founded in 2008 and is based in New Braunfels, Texas.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2018-09-25 Gianni Versace

Milan, Italy

Gianni Versace S.p.A. is an Italian fashion brand that designs, manufactures, distributes and retails fashion and lifestyle products including haute couture, prèt-à-porter, accessories, jewelry, watches, eyewear, fragrances, and home furnishings all bearing the distinctive Medusa logo. The Versace group distributes its products through a worldwide distribution network which includes over 200 boutiques in some of the world’s most glamourous cities. It was formed in 1978 and is based in Milan.

Sell €1.8B
SELLER

SDC Capital Partners

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 2017
PE ASSETS 400M USD
Size Middle-Market
Type Sector Focused
DESCRIPTION

SDC Capital Partners is an operationally oriented private investment firm focused on the IT and communications sectors. Specific areas of interest include data centers, fiber/networks, wireless infrastructure, and managed IT/cloud services. The Firm looks to commit $50 to $500 million per transaction and generally pursues platform businesses where it can pursue growth opportunities. SDC Capital Partners was established in 2017 and is headquartered in New York City.


DEAL STATS #
Overall 1 of 2
Sector (Communications) 1 of 2
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 1 of 1
Country (Brazil) 1 of 1
Year (2018) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2011-01-11 Ascenty

Campinas, Brazil

Ascenty is the largest data center provider in Brazil, with seven data centers currently operating and an additional data center under construction. The company was founded in 2010 and has focused on building world-class data centers while serving some of the largest global technology companies. All the company’s data centers are interconnected using a proprietary 4,000 km fiber-optic network.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2019-01-01 Bandwidth IG

Sunnyvale, California, United States

Bandwidth IG is a metro dark fiber provider that offers high-capacity dark fiber solutions to mission-critical data centers, hyperscalers, and enterprises throughout Northern California and Greater Atlanta. Bandwidth IG was founded in 2019 and is based in Sunnyvale, California.

Buy -