ServerFarm Acquires UK-Based Data Center Operator

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ServerFarm has acquired 5NINES Global Holdings, a U.K.-based data center transformation operator. The purchase of 5NINES will integrate all of the firm’s assets, employees, customers, subsidiaries and operations into ServerFarm’s global network, which will be expanded by the acquisition into several new locations in the U.S. and Europe. The company worked with NIBC Bank to close the deal.

The deal comes after Google’s announcement last month that the company would be pouring $3.3 billion into expanding its European data centers over the next two years. The global data center market is poised for some big shakeups as the sector prepares for the adoption of 5G, AI and IoT technology to have a big effect on demand in the market, according to a recent report from JLL. The report found that the majority of development activity in the sector is happening in established data center markets, as operators around the world expand their products. 

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Mario Calderone, vice president of real estate for ServerFarm, told Commercial Property Executive that 5NINES’ business focus aligns “perfectly” with ServerFarm’s business model.

“Through this acquisition, customers will now have access to Serverfarm’s sophisticated services, which include facility and infrastructure operations, engineering and Serverfarm’s data center managed service platform, InCommand,” said Calderone. “The acquisition also provides an expansion of Serverfarm’s global footprint into multiple strategic markets, including the Netherlands, Great Britain, Finland and additional locations in the U.S.” 

Sealing the deal

ServerFarm owns assets in some of the world’s strongest data center markets, including Atlanta, Washington State, Northern Virginia and Dallas, Toronto, London, Amsterdam and Finland. The firm is also eyeing expansion opportunities in all major European markets, the Middle East, Africa and South America, according to Calderone.

The CEO of 5NINES, Paul Foskett, told Commercial Property Executive that their particular business strategy was recognized by ServerFarm as a “game-changer”, which lead to the deal. “5NINES Global Holdings developed a strategy, which delivered commercial and operational benefits to large corporate data center owners by migrating them from a fixed-cost, asset-centric, siloed operation to an asset-lite, highly flexible, utility solution, which removes the burden of owning and operating data centers that are typically utilized and therefore carry a disproportionate fixed cost per unit (kW or rack),” said Foskett.