Etix Everywhere has completed its acquisition of DataBank’s French portfolio. At the same time, Etix has a new majority shareholder.
The companies this week confirmed the closing of the deal, first announced in July 2023.
The deal comprised DataBank’s three data centers in Paris, as well as one each in Toulouse and Montpellier, with a total of 63,760 sq ft of raised floor and 3.7MW of capacity in around 1,000 racks. Etix said the portfolio is expandable to 5.4 MW and 1,500 racks.
Etix and its shareholder Global Data Centre Group (GDCG) said the deal was valued at a total of €63 million ($66m).
The deal was financed through a combination of €48.3 million in new equity from the Eurazeo Transition Infrastructure Fund and €15 million in new debt from Etix’s current debt provider - Etix noted this includes a sustainable-inked bond from Zencap Asset Management.
With the deal, the Eurazeo fund is now Etix’s majority shareholder, with GDCG’s stake dropping to ~46 percent.
Louis Blanchot, group CEO Etix Everywhere, said: “After this new acquisition, Etix is the clear leader in the Edge data center market with 12 data centers and a presence in five regions. As data center demand from our customer base continues to rapidly increase, Etix is excited to be in a strong position to continue developing our platform to support their future expansion.”
Prior to this deal, Etix operated seven facilities across France; three each in Nantes and Lille and one in Vendeé. The company acquired two of the Lille facilities last year.
“We are glad to complete the sale of our French assets to Etix Everywhere, and have our French customers and employees join a platform extremely focused on the European market,” added Raul Martynek, DataBank’s CEO. “Now, we’ll be able to target our capital and resources on deepening our US portfolio to meet the increasing demand for data center capacity that has been unleashed by artificial intelligence applications.”
DataBank took over the facilities as part of the zColo transaction in 2020. zColo, through parent company Zayo, had acquired the sites through the acquisitions of Neo Telecoms in 2014 and Green Data Center in 2017.
The company’s only remaining data center outside the US is located in London, UK.
After Vantage acquired most of Etix’s European hyperscale footprint, ASX-listed Global Data Centre Group bought the remainder of Etix in 2020; Eurazeo invested in the company earlier this year. The company operates small Edge facilities in France, Belgium, Thailand, and Colombia.
Guggenheim Partners served as financial advisor to DataBank in connection with the transaction and Delsol Avocats served as legal counsel.
