Berkshire Partners To Invest In Teraco Data Environments

Wednesday, January 30,2019 05.32PM / By AndreaAyemoba of AfricaTech

TeracoData Environments, African provider of colocation data centre infrastructure,has announced that Berkshire Partners LLC, a Boston-based investment firm, hasentered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in the company.The Permira funds, an existing shareholder, will remain a significant investor.

Basedin Johannesburg and established in 2008, Teraco is the largest provider of datacentre services in Africa. The company offers vendor-neutral colocation andother related services in secure and resilient data centres. The Permira fundsinitially backed a Teraco management buyout in December 2014 and in that timethe business has multiplied its capacity more than six times.

Thecompany operates five high-quality facilities with 30MW of critical power loadserving more than 450 clients, including global internet companies, across fivecore ecosystems – telecoms, managed service providers, content, enterprise andfinancial services. With more than 13,500 interconnects, Teraco’s data centresare the most interconnected facilities in Africa, allowing clients to connectdirectly to each other, to the onramps of all major cloud providers, as well asto the continent’s largest and fastest growing Internet Exchange Point,NAPAfrica.

Thedata centre market in Africa is poised for continued strong growth with increasingdemand for global applications, content, and the accelerating adoption of cloudservices. Teraco has built a strategic position to capture this regionalopportunity as a trusted and secure partner with resilient data centrefacilities built to international standards.

JanHnizdo, Managing Director of Teraco, said, “Berkshire Partners is alike-minded and committed long-term partner that shares our vision for thefuture: to continue to invest in world-class data centre facilities, allowingus to support the digital interconnected enterprise, and meeting the highstandards of service that are expected from us. Over the next few years, we aimto double our installed critical power load from 30MW to 60MW and we lookforward to working closely with Berkshire Partners on this ambitious growthjourney.”

LarryHamelsky, a Managing Director at Berkshire Partners, said, “We believe thatTeraco is exceptionally well-positioned to capitalise on the fast growth of theSub-Saharan data centre infrastructure market given its highly interconnectedecosystems, well-designed facilities, and ability to offer a wide array ofdeployments. We are thrilled to be partnering with Teraco’s talented managementteam to support the company’s continued success.”

MichailZekkos, Partner at Permira, added, “The past four years have been atransformational journey for Teraco, and we are very pleased to have played arole in growing the business, expanding its ecosystem, and delivering suchstrong results. We remain very committed to Teraco and the management team –something that is underscored by our funds’ continuing investment – and we areexcited about bringing in a new partner to support further expansion. Continuedsecular demand driven by Sub-Saharan Africa’s digital transformation, the earlystages of outsourcing, and cloud penetration means that the future looks verypositive for Teraco, and we look forward to supporting the team.”

LexVan Wyk, Chief Executive Officer of Teraco said: “Berkshire Partners hasprior experience investing in data centres and appreciates the business that wehave built. We are delighted to welcome them as our new majority shareholder.In addition, with the Permira funds staying on as a shareholder, there remainscontinuity in the shareholder base. It is business as usual for the employeesand management team of Teraco, and more importantly, for our clients.”

Thetransaction is subject to regulatory approval and the customary closingconditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.

Source Credits: AfricaBusiness Communities