Digital Realty Acquires Brazil’s Ascenty for $1.8 Billion

Sept. 24, 2018
Digital Realty will boost its presence on Brazil by acquiring Ascenty in a $1.8 billion deal that illustrates the global growth of data center development and digital transformation.

In a sign of the growing importance of the South American market, data center giant Digital Realty will boost its presence on Brazil with the $1.8 billion acquisition of Ascenty, the companies confirmed today. The deal, which had been rumored for several months, reflects the increasingly global nature of the data center business.

Digital Realty’s Brazilian subsidiary will acquire Ascenty from private equity firm Great Hill Partners, adding eight data centers in Brazilian metro areas of São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza.

The structure of the deal also illustrates the growing use of partnerships to support the growth strategies of data center developers. Digital Realty is teaming with investor Brookfield Asset Management to fund the Ascenty acquisition. Brookfield, which has extensive experience in the Brazilian market, will invest $613 million with Digital in a joint venture, and will wind up with a 49 percent equity stake in the Ascenty operation.

The cloud computing boom has boosted investor interest in the data center sector, providing developers with more options to obtain capital to build or acquire data centers. Buying an established business, like Ascenty, provides predictable cash flow for professional investors like Brookfield.  In other deals, developers are bundling stabilized data centers into joint ventures.

Growth Opportunity in Latin America

Ascenty is a leading data center provider in Latin America, with most of its facilities built to Tier III standards. It leases space to a number of global hyperscale cloud providers, with over 90 percent of Ascenty’s rent attributable to customers whose parent entities have investment-grade or equivalent credit ratings.

Digital Realty says the Latin American region represents a compelling opportunity for future data center growth, and sees Brazil as the hub of the region’s future technological expansion. The Ascenty portfolio includes 106 megawatts (MWs) of total planned capacity, including 39 megawatts already in service, 34 MWs of capacity under construction and 33 MWs of potential additional capacity. In addition, Ascenty has options or leases on five separate sites representing up to an estimated incremental 66 MWs of future growth capacity. Digital Realty said it expects to invest an additional $425 million to build out the balance of Ascenty’s capacity.

“We expect this acquisition will further accelerate our growth while enhancing our ability to support our customers’ digital transformation across the globe,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer Bill Stein. “This immediately establishes us as a market leader within an historically under-served region poised for rapid growth. We are also gratified to partner with Brookfield on this transaction, leveraging their extensive experience as a regional investor and operator.”

“This immediately establishes us as a market leader within an historically under-served region poised for rapid growth.”
Digital Realty CEO Bill Stein

Ascenty also operates its own 4,500-kilometer fiber optic network connecting Brazil’s primary technology, finance, and population hubs of São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza. The fiber network provides Digital Realty customers with direct access to the major Brazilian telecom operators, peering points and subsea cable networks.

The Ascenty management team will remain in place, led by Ascenty Chief Executive Officer Chris Torto, and will maintain day-to-day responsibility for operations in the region.

“Our combined platform will be uniquely positioned to provide our customers the full spectrum of data center solutions along with the ability to support their growth on a global basis, and we look forward to working with the Digital Realty and Brookfield teams to extend our state-of-the-art data center and connectivity solutions to capitalize on the rapidly growing demand within the region,” said Torto.

Brookfield has been investing in Brazil for over 100 years, with over $40 billion of assets under management, including toll roads, ad rail and port logistics business, a natural gas pipeline system, electric transmission lines, and a portfolio of high-quality commercial properties in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Digital Realty said it “expects to benefit significantly from investing alongside a sophisticated partner with a long history of investing in the region.”

About the Author

Rich Miller

I write about the places where the Internet lives, telling the story of data centers and the people who build them. I founded Data Center Knowledge, the data center industry's leading news site. Now I'm exploring the future of cloud computing at Data Center Frontier.

Sponsored Recommendations

Optimizing AI Infrastructure: The Critical Role of Liquid Cooling

In this executive brief, we discuss the growing need for liquid cooling in data centers due to the increasing power demands of AI and high-performance computing. Discover how ...

AI-Driven Data Centers: Revolutionizing Decarbonization Strategies

AI hype has put data centers in the spotlight, sparking concerns over energy use—but they’re also key to a greener future. With renewable power and cutting-edge cooling, data ...

Bending the Energy Curve: Decoupling Digitalization Trends from Data Center Energy Growth

After a decade of stability, data center energy consumption is now set to surge—but can we change the trajectory? Discover how small efficiency gains could cut energy growth by...

AI Reference Designs to Enable Adoption: A Collaboration Between Schneider Electric and NVIDIA

Traditional data center power, cooling, and racks aren’t sufficient for GPU-based servers arranged in high-density AI clusters...

3d_man/Shutterstock.com
Source: 3d_man/Shutterstock.com

Preparing Data Center Services to Meet Changing Needs

Chris Hillyer, Global Director of Professional Services for nVent Data Solutions, explains why data center operators should take a purpose-optimized and solution-driven approach...

White Papers

Get the full report.

Migrate Your Data Center Worry-Free

April 19, 2022
In this new white paper, Flexential provides best practices for IT teams looking to optimize their data center migration by minimizing downtime and avoiding hurdles.