DigitalBridge to Buy Switch for $11 Billion as Data Center M&A Binge Continues

Data center developer Switch will be acquired by DigitalBridge and infrastructure investors IFM in an all cash deal valued at about $11 billion, the companies said today. DigitalBridge and IFM will pay $34.25 a share for Switch, about an 11 percent premium to the share price at the close of trading Tuesday.

Switch will once again become a private company, continuing a trend in which public data center REITs have been bought by large investors and taken private. Over the past year, QTS Data Centers, CyrusOne and CoreSite have al been acquired for more than $10 billion.

The deal also brings together two leading innovators in the digital infrastructure in DigitalBridge’s Marc Ganzi and Switch founder Rob Roy.

Switch is one of the most distinctive players in the data center sector. It operates one of the largest cloud campuses in the world at its Las Vegas CORE Campus, where founder Rob Roy introduced pioneering concepts in high-density cooling and aisle containment, as well as custom multi-mode cooling systems. The company has added four more purpose-built campuses – the Citadel Campus in Reno, the Pyramid Campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Keep Campus in Atlanta, and the Rock Campus in Austin, which includes assets acquired From Data Foundry and a new facility adjacent to the Dell headquarters.

“Today’s announcement is an important step towards our long-term vision for the growth and evolution of our company, said Roy. “Following our expansion into a Fifth Prime campus last year, and with our plan to construct more than 11 million additional square feet of capacity through 2030, Switch’s strategic position has never been stronger. The combination of our advanced data center infrastructure, significant expansion capacity in our land bank, and a new partnership with experienced digital infrastructure investors lays a strong foundation for Switch’s continued industry leading growth.”

“At DigitalBridge, we are building the world’s leading global digital infrastructure investment platform, and this transaction allows us to partner with one of the industry’s fastest growing and highest quality data center portfolios,” said Chief Executive Officer of DigitalBridge. “Rob and his team share our vision for the future of communications infrastructure, making us the ideal partner to scale their business both domestically and internationally to meet the exponentially rising demand from large enterprise customers looking for mission critical digital infrastructure. We are also pleased to partner with IFM Investors, one of the world’s leading institutional infrastructure investors, to execute this compelling transaction.”

IFM is an infrastructure investor owned by a group of Australian pension funds, and manages $136 billion in assets.

“We consider Switch to be an excellent digital infrastructure business with strong potential,” said Kyle Mangini, Global Head of Infrastructure at IFM. “The company is a recognized industry leader with an impressive approach to ESG. Today’s announcement reflects IFM’s strategy of investing in high quality infrastructure to protect and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people.”

More to come …