LOS ANGELES & DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data center campuses, and an investor group led by Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY), a leading global investment management firm, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to form a strategic partnership valued at $3.5 billion to accelerate the expansion of Vantage’s best-in-class, wholesale data centers throughout North America and Europe.
As part of the agreement, the Colony-led investor group will invest $1.2 billion in Vantage’s diversified portfolio, including 12 stabilized North American data centers, which span more than 1.4 million gross square feet and 150MW of IT capacity across key strategic markets in Santa Clara, California; Quincy, Washington; Montreal and Quebec City, Canada. Vantage’s management team, led by Sureel Choksi, president and CEO, will continue to manage and operate these assets as part of its global data center footprint. Vantage will maintain the same level of superior service to its valued customers in each market, while simultaneously developing and operating additional data centers throughout North America and Europe. The capital provided by this transaction will support Vantage’s strategy to expand and enhance its global footprint.
The strategic partnership also marks a significant milestone in Colony’s ongoing digital transformation, with $200 million of the investment coming from Colony’s balance sheet, underscoring its commitment to investing in and acquiring world-class, stabilized digital infrastructure assets that deliver consistent returns for Colony shareholders.
“This innovative transaction establishes the most valuable portfolio of hyperscale data center assets in North America, backed and managed by the best-in-class management team at Vantage,” said Marc Ganzi, CEO of Colony Capital. “As Colony continues to build momentum around our strategic transformation to digital infrastructure, this investment demonstrates our commitment to acquire high-quality digital assets on our balance sheet. We expect this will benefit our shareholders by providing consistent, predictable earnings from long-term leases with the highest-caliber, investment-grade customers.”
“This strategic partnership with the Colony Capital-led investor group provides Vantage with a partner that deeply understands digital infrastructure,” said Mr. Choksi. “Vantage and its investor group are now even more well positioned to capitalize on a number of attractive market opportunities and deploy the necessary capital to drive innovation, deliver state-of-the-art facilities for our customers, and accelerate our expansion plans in existing and new markets globally.”
The partnership is expected to be finalized in late July. Citi served as financial advisor to Vantage Data Centers.
About Colony Capital
Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) is a leading global investment firm with a heritage of identifying and capitalizing on key secular trends in real estate. The company manages a $50 billion portfolio of real assets on behalf of its shareholders and limited partners, including over $20 billion in digital real estate investments through Digital Colony, its digital infrastructure platform. Colony Capital, structured as a REIT, is headquartered in Los Angeles with key offices in Boca Raton, New York, and London, and has over 350 employees across 20 locations in 12 countries.
For more information, visit www.clny.com.
About Vantage Data Centers
Vantage Data Centers powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the world’s well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across six markets in North America and five markets in Europe, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.
For more information, visit www.vantage-dc.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” or “potential” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, and may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, Colony Capital’s ability to successfully transition to a digital focused strategy and achieve the anticipated benefits of such transition, Colony Capital’s ability to complete the Vantage strategic partnership within the timeframe and on the terms contemplated or at all, whether Colony Capital’s strategic partnership with Vantage will result in any of the anticipated benefits, including, among others, providing consistent returns for Colony Capital’s stockholders, whether Vantage will expand in existing and new markets globally, including the pace of such expansion, Vantage’s ability to drive innovation and deliver state-of-the-art facilities for its customers, Vantage’s performance, including its ability to provide consistent, predictable earnings from long-term leases with the highest-caliber, investment-grade customers, the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. and global economy, including the duration and extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the operating performance of Colony Capital’s real estate businesses and investments, Colony Capital’s ability to de-lever, Colony Capital’s liquidity and financial flexibility, Colony Capital’s ability to complete its rotation to digital within the timeframe anticipated or at all, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in Colony Capital's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 and its other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Colony Capital cautions investors not to unduly rely on any forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Colony Capital is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release, nor to conform prior statements to actual results or revised expectations, and Colony Capital does not intend to do so.
