Global investor in sustainable infrastructure, Actis, has recently announced its acquisition of 11 data centers in 6 countries across Latin America and the US from Nabiax, jointly owned by Asterion Industrial Partners and Telefonica. Upon closing this transaction, Actis will become the sole owner of these facilities which have a collective IT load capacity of 23 MW with the potential for further development.
Meanwhile, Asterion Industrial Partners who acquired Telefoncia’s Data Centre assets four years ago will retain ownership over their European counterparts while Actis takes on responsibility for those located in Brazil, Chile Mexico Peru Argentina as well as a small exposure based in Florida within the United States. The assets were originally built by Telefonica for both their operations and for their clients, and the company remains an anchor tenant under a long-term contract.
In 2019, Nabiax was formed after Asterion Industrial Partners acquired 11 data centers from Telefonica for €550 million ($616 million). With a total of 29MW across seven countries—Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Peru Chile Mexico, and the U.S., Nabiax has since gone on to provide colocation and hosting services throughout Latin America and Spain.
In May 2021, Telefónica divulged that it had offloaded an additional four data centers to Asterion Industrial Partners in exchange for a 20% stake in its Nabiax hosting business. The transaction involved two facilities in Chile and two Spanish sites located in Madrid and Terrassa.
This is Actis’ latest investment in the digital infrastructure industry, marking its seventh transaction in this sector amounting to more than US$ 1 billion. This strategic move adds to Actis’s five existing data center platforms across Asia and Africa.
Mauricio Giusti, Partner in Actis’ Sao Paulo office, said, “We are delighted to deepen our footprint in the digital infrastructure sector with the acquisition of these anchor assets for our pan-Latam Data Centre platform. We are also excited to partner with Telefonica in the region as a key customer of the platform, while also positioning the data centers as carrier-neutral facilities. Data centers are crucial in connecting communities, enabling economic growth, and in providing access to information and education.”
BBVA, Pinheiro Neto Advogados, and Linklaters were advisors to Actis in this transaction.
Actis’ investments in the digital infrastructure sector
Actis concentrates its Digital Infrastructure investments on three main subsectors, namely data centers, towers, and fiber. Its approach is centered on procuring assets, enhancing utilization, operating shared infrastructure platforms, and constructing new capacity where demand exceeds supply.
In pursuit of its broader objective to capitalize on the rising demand for digital infrastructure in Asia and other regions, Actis formed an exclusive partnership with ADIK, a specialized data center advisor and operator in Korea, to bolster its internet data center (IDC) capabilities. This initiative aimed to create synergies between Actis’ established development proficiency and ADIK’s profound knowledge of the Korean IDC industry.
Additionally, Actis acquired a controlling stake in Octotel, a South African fiber-to-the-home operator valued at ZAR2.3bn (around US$140 million), and signed deals to procure a non-controlling interest in RSAWEB, a major Internet Service Provider in South Africa.
In early 2020, Actis joined forces with Rack Centre as part of its $250 million African data center platform investment. This collaboration aimed to enable the data center to accommodate the fast-growing demand for hosting capacity in Africa, while also lowering its environmental impact and operating expenses.
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