The deal, worth in excess of US$874 million, involves the acquisition by Digital Reality of five data centers in London, two in Amsterdam and one in Frankfurt from Equinix. It was a competitive auction process with numerous bidders and was triggered as a condition of the European Commission's approval of the acquisition of Telecity by Equinix, which closed in January 2016.
“This transaction was particularly noteworthy because it arose as a result of the first divestiture of data centre assets in Europe directed by the European Commission,” said White & Case partner James Dodsworth, who led the Firm’s deal team. “As a result, it will shape the way these types of deals are formulated in the future.”
On completion, the deal is expected to be the largest real estate investment deal by value in Europe in 2016. It is the latest in a series of deals on which White & Case has advised Digital Realty in the data centre space, including the US$1.1 billion acquisition of three data centres in the London area.
The White & Case team that advised on the transaction was led by partner James Dodsworth (London) and included partners Jonathan Langley, Prabhu Narasimhan, Stephen Ravenscroft (all London), Axel Schulz, James Killick (both Brussels) and Holger Wolf (Frankfurt), with support from associates James Johnson, David Persaud, James Golunski, Johnny Drysdale, James Pullen, Emer Delaney, Christian Holbrook (all London) and Friederike Goering (Frankfurt).
