Brazilian financial firm Piemonte Holding has bought five data centers from telecoms firm Oi.
The five facilities are located in Curitiba, Porto Alegre, and São Paulo, plus two in Brasília, in a deal worth R$367 million ($70 million). Oi says this deal “marks the first in a series of sales” that it plans to carry out in the coming years as it continues its bankruptcy restructuring.
Piemonte gets data centers, Oi offloads what it can
“Piemonte is a young organization that believes in the digital transformation of the economy. I believe that, with an appropriate digital infrastructure, this country may be brought back into the group of global major players, finally turning the page and forgetting past mistakes,” says Alessandro Lombardi, CEO of Piemonte.
The facilities are now part of Titan Elea Digital conglomerate, Piemonte's data center holding company. The deal was supported by Brazilian banks BTG Pactual and Banco Bradesco.
“Brazil is a continental-sized country and our data centers are unique: in addition to hosting, we can offer connectivity and minimize latency. We see an enormous potential, which is validated by our financial sponsors. We were lucky to find a management such as Oi's, with which we share values, strategic vision and excellent execution capacity,” said Lombardi.
The deal was first announced after an auction in November 2020 as Oi undergoes bankruptcy restructuring, but has now officially closed. Oi also sold its tower unit for R$1.067 billion ($201 million) to Digital Colony’s Highline do Brasil.
Oi first filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016. It has been undergoing restructuring initiatives since then, including selling off its data center, tower, and mobile business units to focus on its fiber division.
