US telecommunications company CenturyLink has completed the acquisition of hosting and cloud services provider Savvis. CenturyLink first announced the US$2.5bn deal in April.

The buyer said it was planning to integrate its hosting business with Savvis's managed hosting and cloud services, which it expected to grow its share of the market. The integrated hosting business will operate under the Savvis brand and be based in St. Louis, Missouri.

CenturyLink president and CEO Glen Post said: "The combination of CenturyLink's hosting and network assets with Savvis'proven solutions in colocation, managed hosting and cloud services substantially enhances CenturyLink's capabilities and immediately provides the company with a solid platform for future growth."

Members of Savvis's leadership team, including its CEO Jim Ousley, will take lead of the hosting business, Post added.

In addition to paying $30 per share to Savvis stockholders, CenturyLink prepaid about $546m of Savvis's debt. The buyer expects the merger to improve the growth profile of its revenue, income and cash flow, and to result in about $70m in annual synergies related to operating costs and capital expenditure.

The combined company has 48 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia.