Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) said Oct. 29 it plans to buy European data center service provider Interxion (NYSE: INXN) in a deal valued at $8.4 billion, including debt.
Digital Realty CEO A. William Stein said the deal will “enable customers to solve for the full spectrum of data center requirements across a global platform.”
Stein said the “strategic and complementary” transaction builds upon Digital Realty’s foundation of serving market demand for colocation, scale, and hyperscale requirements in the Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific, while leveraging Interxion’s European colocation and interconnection expertise.
Interxion CEO David Ruberg will serve as the CEO of the combined company’s EMEA business, which will be branded as “Interxion, a Digital Realty company” at the close of the transaction.
Based in the Netherlands, Interxion’s European business consists of 53 carrier- and cloud-neutral facilities in 11 European countries and 13 metro areas and complements Digital Realty's European footprint, given its presence in London and Dublin. Digital Realty said the combination will create a leading pan-European data center presence, “offering consistent, high-quality services with low-latency access to approximately 70% of the GDP in Europe.”
During a third quarter conference call, Stein noted that the total outsourced data center capacity in Europe today is much smaller than in North America. The rapid expansion of cloud and content platforms is driving significant data center demand across Europe, he said, although within the platform segment there are significant differences in terms of maturity of adoption. Stein noted that even the most technology-centric European countries are 18 to 24 months behind the U.S. As a result, Digital Realty sees “significant opportunity ahead” in Europe, he said.
Under the terms of the agreement, Interxion shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7067 Digital Realty shares per Interxion share. The transaction values Interxion at approximately $93.48 per ordinary share.