Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data centre company appearing at GITEX Technology Week 2017, have announced that they have acquired the Zenium data centre business in Istanbul from the existing shareholders in an all-cash transaction for US$93 million. The data centre currently generates approximately US$2.5 million of annualised revenues. The acquisition was signed and completed on October 6, 2017.
The Zenium data centre, which will be renamed Equinix IS2, will further strengthen the Equinix position in Europe. As the largest metro in Turkey, Istanbul acts as a strategic gateway between Europe and Asia with critical economic and geopolitical importance. IS2 provides Equinix with key capacity and a growth path which enables the company to address growing demand for colocation and interconnection services in Turkey.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Turkey has the world’s 17th-largest nominal GDP and a population of approximately 80 million people. The acquisition of IS2 extends Equinix’s ability to provide Turkish businesses with the direct and secure connectivity they need to expand their global reach in new and existing markets. Equinix currently operates a single facility — IS1 — in Istanbul, and has 67 International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centres across Europe and the Middle East, strategically located in 18 metropolitan areas across 13 countries.
Eric Schwartz, president, EMEA, Equinix said:“The dynamic evolution of digital technology is disrupting how business is done across all industries, forcing companies to invent new, information-centric business models. These business models rely on interconnection and distributed IT architecture. As the Turkish economy continues to grow, Istanbul will become an increasingly important hub for connectivity and technology infrastructure, and this new campus will help Equinix meet this demand from customers across our global customer base.”
Franek Sodzawiczny, CEO & founder, Zenium said: “We congratulate Equinix with this transaction, which enables us to focus on our business in Western Europe. The technological infrastructure in Turkey is advancing quickly, as businesses are requiring more interconnection to compete. This is a great opportunity and Equinix is now well positioned to drive this exciting data centre business forward.”
The purchase of the Zenium business includes a total of three buildings and land. The IS2 data centre building is partially fitted out; the two other buildings are shell and core and prepared for data centre fit-out. IS2 provides Equinix with 1,500 square meters of colocation space today with the ability to increase this to 12,000 square metres and up to 22MW of critical customer load at full build— creating the ability for a future campus environment.
There are 10 networks, including Turk Telecom, already present at the new IS2 data centre, providing network choice to the many multinationals, hyper-scalers and IT vendors who use Istanbul as a regional headquarters or a gateway to markets in Asia and the Middle East. This connectivity is the foundation for cloud adoption, as enterprises continue to increase IT consumption of cloud-related services to accelerate business performance.
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