Dutch colocation firm NorthC has acquired the data center business of Swiss company Netrics.
The deal is NorthC’s first move into Switzerland. The transaction includes three data centers – two in Münchenstein near Basel and one in Biel – with a total floor space of 13,000 sqm (140,000 sq ft), more than 7.5MW of capacity, and opportunities for further expansion.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The acquisition of these three data centers and connectivity services is an important next step in NorthC’s European growth strategy, following the acquisition of IPX in Germany,” said Alexandra Schless, NorthC CEO. “We are excited to welcome these activities and the highly experienced team into our organization. We are convinced that a platform of regional data centers with a wide geographic reach allows our customers to optimize their redundant infrastructure and for them to benefit from regional ecosystems.”
In its own announcement of the news, Netrics said it was selling its infrastructure division to the Dutch NorthC Group, while the remaining business will focus on expanding its cloud offerings and consulting services. As well as the three owned data centers, Netrics occupies space in two Equinix data centers and one Interxion facility in Zurich.
Netrics acquired the facility in Biel in early 2021; the company was already the anchor tenant at the 3,000 sqm (32,200 sq ft) 4MW data center, built in 2018.
Netrics CEO Pascal Schmid added: “NorthC offers data center and connectivity services of the highest quality and is therefore the ideal partner for us. This gives our customers access to even more extensive infrastructure services. At the same time, this step allows us to concentrate fully on the strategic future areas of cloud and modern workplace as well as the expansion of consulting services. A real win-win situation.”
NorthC has been advised by Greenhill acting as M&A advisor, with Hogan Lovells and Prager Dreifuss serving as legal counsels on the transaction.
The Dutch firm – formed in 2020 after the merger of The Datacenter Group (TDCG) and NLDC – operates 10 data centers in the Netherlands and two in Germany. It acquired the IP Exchange colocation business from German IT services provider q.beyond last year, taking over two data centers in Nuremberg and Munich with 14,000 sqm (150,600 sq ft) and more than 7MW of power capacity.
Source: datacenterdynamics.com
