On Wednesday, Oslo-headquartered sustainable data center provider DigiPlex announced that it will be acquired by IPI Partners LLC, a Chicago-based private equity investment firm that focuses exclusively on data centers and other technology and connectivity related real assets.
DigiPlex operates eight data centers across campuses in the Nordic markets of Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen, with a combined footprint of 21,000m² built whitespace plus over 400,000m² of land currently available for customer expansion. The company has won several awards for its energy efficient innovations and sustainability initiatives.
Through the acquisition of DigiPlex, IPI will gain a significant leadership position in Northern Europe. The transaction brings IPI an immediate strong presence in the region, plus room to expand, to accommodate the requirements of hyperscalers and major colocation tenants.
“DigiPlex is a market leader in the high-growth Nordic data center sector and we have long admired the quality of its management, employees and business strategy,” IPI Partner Matt A’Hearn said in announcing the deal. “With DigiPlex’s existing scaled presence and deep development expertise, we will significantly expand our hyperscale-focused data center portfolio in Europe, a key region of focus for IPI,” commented Matt A’Hearn, Partner at IPI.
For DigiPlex, the transaction provides capital, expertise and relationships to amplify its next stage of growth within the Nordics and beyond. DigiPlex is IPI’s second acquisition in Europe, following the purchase of Milan-based SUPERNAP Italia in February 2021.
“At a time of rapid growth for the industry, IPI provides near-term scalability to DigiPlex,” DigiPlex CEO Wiljar Nesse said. “New capital, as well as a global footprint and access to global supply chains, relationships and customers, are expected to supercharge our growth, enabling us to continue meeting the hyperscale demand that we are experiencing. We believe this acquisition is an acknowledgement of our strong customer relationships and proven business model, and that employees and customers alike will benefit as we accelerate our plans and expand our vision in partnership with IPI.”
Last month, DigiPlex opened its third data center in nine months at its Fetsund campus in Lillestrøm, Norway, a facility built to support an IT load of 3 MW. The data center, completed ahead of schedule during (and despite) covid-related disruptions, is already reserved for an unnamed global client. Like other DigiPlex data centers, the new Fetsund facility has inherent redundancy in the power and cooling systems and is engineered to be maintained without services downtime. The facility uses a high-efficiency, air-to-air cooling system, a solution uniquely suited to the Nordic climate, yielding energy efficiencies and cost savings up to 25 percent better than the industry average.
IPI specializes in acquiring, developing, leasing, and operating critical digital infrastructure assets to serve the needs of large, high quality technology companies globally. Co-sponsored by ICONIQ Capital, LLC and an affiliate of Iron Point Partners, LLC, over the past five years, IPI has built one of the world’s largest privately held data center portfolios focused on the hyperscale and enterprise markets and raised more than $5.25 billion in total equity capital commitments.
