Vantage Datacenters, a global provider of hyperscale data center campuses operating across markets in North America and Europe, has accelerated its European expansion to include Wales, United Kingdom, its sixth strategic market on the European continent. For an undisclosed sum of money, Vantage has bought one of Europe’s largest data center campuses totaling 180MW, including an existing 72MW facility and 108MW of expansion capacity.

Vantage Datacenters has acquired this huge data center campus, Next Generation Data (NGD), from InfraVia Capital Partners and the two founders of the business. Upon closing, Wales will mark Vantage’s sixth strategic market in Europe following its entrance into five markets (Berlin, Frankfurt, Milan, Warsaw and Zurich) announced in February 2020, including the acquisition of Etix Everywhere.

Connectivity, Cloud Access

Located on 50-acres, the existing NGD data center is a Tier III facility using 100% renewable energy. The facility is rich in connectivity and has fiber delivered by many Tier 1 service providers, offering customers “low latency between Wales and London of less than 1.5 milliseconds.”

In addition, NGD Cloud Gateway provides multiple access services, including Express Route and Connect, while NGD recently became a new hosting facility for LINX Wales. The 750,000 square foot facility would meet the UK government’s highest standards and accommodate multiple blue-chip, high growth companies.

NGD’s CEO Justin Jenkins, an experienced technology and operations leader, will join Vantage as President Vantage UK once the acquisition closes.

“As the needs of our hyperscale, cloud and large enterprise customers continue to grow, Wales represents a highly attractive U.K. market offering both lower cost and greater scalability versus London,” said Sureel Choksi, president and CEO, Vantage Data Centers. “NGD customers benefit from very low network latency to London, low power costs and excellent fiber connectivity, coupled with the company’s massively scalable campus outside London’s highly constrained M25 area. We are thrilled to welcome Justin Jenkins and the entire NGD team to Vantage Europe.”

Hyperscale Data Centers

Sureel Choksi
“As the needs of our hyperscale, cloud and large enterprise customers continue to grow, Wales represents a highly attractive U.K. market offering both lower cost and greater scalability versus London,” said Sureel Choksi, president and CEO, Vantage Data Centers.

At NGD since its founding in 2007, Justin Jenkins previously served as the company’s CTO and COO before being named CEO in 2018. He has also held leadership roles at Sony Computer Entertainment and several start-up technology companies.

“The NGD team is excited to join Vantage Europe given our shared commitment to operational excellence, high quality facilities and sustainable building practices,” said Mr. Jenkins. “Vantage’s global footprint and broad customer relationships, combined with NGD’s growing hyperscale and enterprise U.K. customer base, position us ideally to accelerate the investment and growth of our U.K. business.”

The transaction will be funded with equity commitments from Digital Colony Partners and other investors in Vantage Datacenters, as well as acquisition debt financing. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Q3 2020.

“The need for hyperscale data centers is more vital than ever, and we are thrilled to support Vantage Europe in its acquisition of NGD,” said Marc Ganzi, CEO of Digital Colony and CEO-elect of Colony Capital. “Despite the current market dislocation, Digital Colony remains committed to supporting its portfolio companies and meeting the ever-increasing needs of our valued customers around the globe. This strategic acquisition advances that goal, providing Vantage Europe with immediate scale and access to significant renewable energy in the important UK market.”