Cyxtera Technologies, Inc. has completed its merger with Starboard Value Acquisition Corp (SVAC).
The colocation provider announced it was combining with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with SVAC in February. Cyxtera is to start trading on the Nasdaq today under the symbol CYXT.
“Today marks a key milestone in a journey we launched in 2017 to build a global leader in digital infrastructure with the scale, connectivity and technology to meet the needs of leading enterprises, service providers, and government agencies,” said Manuel D. Medina, chair of Cyxtera and founder and managing partner of Medina Capital. “Cyxtera already has a strong track record of value creation, and we look forward to continuing to deliver innovative solutions for our customers across our global data center platform.”
SPACs are ‘blank check’ shell companies that list on a stock exchange and then acquire or merge with an operating private company. This route to the stock market is often quicker and involves fewer steps than a traditional IPO.
The Starboard SPAC, founded by the Starboard Value hedge fund, IPO’d in September 2020 and raised $360 million. It was created with the intention of merging with a company in one of the technology, healthcare, consumer, industrial, hospitality, or entertainment sectors.
The company said it received approximately $493 million in total cash from the transaction before fees, expenses and debt amortization, which will be used to partially retire company debt and investment for growth, as well as to pay transaction expenses.
“Cyxtera’s team has built a differentiated global data center platform that is well positioned to deliver the innovative solutions our customers require to meet their evolving infrastructure needs,” said Nelson Fonseca, President & CEO of Cyxtera. “Having completed our merger with SVAC, we now can accelerate our plans to drive high-margin growth through increased utilization of our existing assets, development of innovative product offerings, and expansion of our global footprint. We look forward to leveraging our data center platform and our experience in successfully operating a publicly traded data center company to create long-term shareholder value.”
The Company’s leadership, including Medina, Fonseca, COO Randy Rowland, and CFO Carlos Sagasta, will continue to lead Cyxtera. Medina and Fonseca will also serve on the board of the combined company as Chair and Director respectively along with Starboard Value LP CEO and former SVAC Chair Jeff Smith and former SVAC Industry Advisor Greg Waters.
