American Tower (NYSE: AMT), one of the largest global REITs with a portfolio of more than 214,000 communications sites, has closed its acquisition of DataSite, an owner-operator of data centers. The acquisition adds two data center locations to its growing portfolio of colocation facilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As part of the deal, American Tower will now be in charge of all management and operations at DataSite’s facilities in Atlanta and Orlando, Florida. The acquisition boosts American Tower Data Centers’ total number of locations to nine, including its expansion into Orlando and its current presence in Atlanta. The acquisition would strengthen American Tower’s position in the Atlanta area and complement the company’s current footprint in the Florida colocation market.
“The acquisition of DataSite augments our data center portfolio. Since entering the data center market in 2019, we’ve been committed to meeting the growing demands of our customers by expanding critical connectivity services,” said Eric Watko, Vice President of Product Line Management for American Tower. “These metro data centers are critical to our edge strategy, as they contain the carrier hotel, providing interconnectivity access to internet exchanges and cloud services.”
Cross-Connects, Cloud Ramps
The Orlando DataSite data center is positioned to complement the American Tower Edge Data Center in Jacksonville, providing more connection options in Florida. Clients can also use Orlando as a vehicle to link to facilities in Miami that connect to Latin American networks.
Enterprise clients may extend their network with more connectivity choices by using the DataSite Data Center in Atlanta, which is located in Marietta. Clients of American Tower will get access to the DataSite network’s services, including dedicated Internet access, carrier-neutral cross-connects, cloud ramps, and point-to-point data center connectivity and cloud alternatives, such as WAN and SD-WAN.
“DataSite is in good hands with American Tower,” said Jeff Burges, former President of DataSite. “They have shown a commitment to expanding in this industry and providing our customers the same level of service, with the same team they’ve come to expect.
DH Capital acted as sole financial advisor to DataSite on the announced sale to American Tower. DH Capital has been working with the DataSite team as an advisor for the past five years.
“It has been a pleasure working with the DH team who have acted as long-term, strategic advisors on not only this transaction, but also on other financial and strategic initiatives,” added Mr. Burges. “They have been a key partner to both me and my entire team as we have built the business.”
