Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is to buy data center colocation company Telx in a $1.886 billion deal.
The companies announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Digital Realty will acquire Telx from private equity firms ABRY Partners and Berkshire Partners.
The combination is expected to double Digital Realty’s footprint in the rapidly-growing colocation business, as well as provide Digital Realty customers access to a leading interconnection platform.
Telx’s interconnection ecosystem enables the exchange of information between communications service providers, enterprises, content providers and other entities with low latency and diverse connectivity across a global network and is expected to provide Digital Realty an opportunity for future growth.
As of March 31, 2015, Telx managed 1.3 million square feet of data center space operating out of 20 facilities across the country, of which two are Telx-owned, 11 are leased from Digital Realty, one is partially sub-leased from Digital Realty and an unrelated third party, and six are leased from third parties.
“This transformative transaction is consistent with our strategy of sourcing strategic and complementary assets to strengthen and diversify Digital Realty’s data center portfolio and expand our product mix and presence in the attractive colocation and interconnection space,” said A. William Stein, Digital Realty’s chief executive officer.
“Telx’s well-established colocation and interconnection businesses provide access to two rapidly-growing segments with long-standing customer relationships in top-tier metropolitan areas such as New York and Silicon Valley. The fact that more than half of Telx’s 20 facilities are run out of Digital Realty properties further highlights the strategic fit as well as the potential incremental revenue opportunities we expect to be able to pursue as one company on a global basis.
“This transaction advances our objective of ensuring that Digital Realty’s suite of products and services is able to best serve our customers’ current and future data center needs.”
“We are excited to join Digital Realty and become part of a much larger global data center services platform,” said Chris Downie, Chief Executive Officer of Telx.
“The combination of Telx’s colocation and interconnection capabilities with Digital Realty’s expansive wholesale platform provides greater flexibility and optionality for our customers and creates a global solutions provider covering wholesale customer applications and smaller performance-oriented deployments in select high-growth urban submarkets across the U.S. ”
Shearman & Sterling represented Citibank, N.A. as administrative agent and joint lead arranger in connection with $1.85 billion in bridge financing commitments for Digital Realty Trust’s acquisition of Telx.
The Shearman & Sterling team included partner Malcolm K. Montgomery (New York-Real Estate), associate Elizabeth Martialay (New York-Real Estate), and associate Andrew Smook (New York-Real Estate).
Digital Realty received the commitment from a syndicate of lenders, the proceeds of which will be available for use, if necessary, to fund a portion of the acquisition.
Both Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are serving as Digital Realty’s financial advisors and Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as Digital Realty’s legal counsel in connection with the pending acquisition.
Barclays and DH Capital are serving as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to ABRY Partners, Berkshire Partners and Telx in connection with the pending acquisition.
