Canadian investment bank Clairvest announced a purchase of a large portion of stock of Vancouver-based IT hosting and colocation provider PEER 1 on Tuesday. The bank exercised an option - part of an earlier deal - to acquire 17.2 percent of PEER 1's common shares for more than U.S. $23 million. The deal was financed by Clairvest Equity Partners III Limited Partnership, a $300 million investment pool Clairvest has set up for equity investments in what it sees as "growth companies."

Clairvest purchased the stock from California private equity firm Celerity Partners - an option that was part of an agreement made in June. The bank said in a statement that it had also entered into an agreement with several other PEER 1 shareholders and may, "depending on the market and other conditions, increase or decrease its beneficial ownership, control or direction over PEER 1."

The investor plans to close the deal by Aug. 27.

PEER 1 provides managed hosting, self-managed hosting, colocation and network services through 16 data centers in North America and the U.K.

"PEER 1 is well positioned to capitalize on the long term demand for hosting services, driven by increased use of the Internet for core business operations and the continued trend toward outsourcing IT infrastructure," PEER 1 CEO Fabio Banducci said in a statement.

Clairvest said the company was attractive for investment because of its solid position in the market, its strong operational metrics and a good reputation in service and support. According to the Clairvest statement, PEER 1 offers a 100-percent uptime guarantee and around-the-clock customer support to its clients.