Macquarie to buy $2.1bn Australian data centre firm AirTrunk
Macquarie Group, the Australian multinational investment bank, has agreed to buy a majority stake in data centre operator AirTrunk valuing the soon-to-be bought firm at $2.1 billion, according to Bloomberg sources.
Leading the deal is Macquarie’s infrastructure arm Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets (MIRA), which has signed an agreement to take control of AirTrunk according to people with knowledge of the matter – an official spokesperson is yet to comment on the deal.
AirTrunk operates data centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore
AirTrunk brands itself as powering “Australia’s largest hyper-scale data centres”, and has been up for auction since last month following reports that Goldman Sachs was managing the sale.
The majority stake being sold is owned by Goldman Sachs’ special situations arm and TPG Sixth Street Partners, with CEO and founder of AirTrunk Robin Khuda keeping his minority stake in the business according to Bloomberg.
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AirTrunk operates data centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore. It has announced plans to open one in Hong Kong this year, as wells as expansion plans to extend its centres in Sydney and Melbourne.
Data centre and telecommunication acquisitions offer stable, growing earnings for investors. Last year, MIRA also acquired a majority stake in US-based Netrality Data Centers, just as fellow division – Macquarie’s European Infrastructure Fund 6 SCSp – bought KCOM’s broadband and cloud division for £627 million.
Around 22 mergers and acquisition across the data centre space were closed in the first half of 2019, according to Synergy Research Group.
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