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Johannesburg - Global private equity firm Permira, which has made over 200 investments since 1985 in companies that include tech-giants like Ancestry.com, has sealed its first-ever African deal.
South Africa’s largest provider of carrier neutral data centre services Teraco Data Environments announced on Wednesday that it is being acquired by “a company backed” by Permira.
This is according to a statement which says the buyout deal involves the company acquiring 100% of the equity in Teraco in partnership with management.
Teraco - which has data centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban - was established in 2008 and serves more than 170 clients, who specialise in the likes of telecoms, outsourcing, content, enterprise and financial services.
Teraco also claims that its data centres “are the most interconnected in Sub-Saharan Africa, with customers connecting directly with each other, as well as through the region’s largest and fastest growing IXP (internet exchange point) - ‘NAP Africa’”.
“In Teraco, the Permira funds are backing a leader in a market with strong fundamental growth drivers,” says Teraco in a statement.
“The data centre market is supported by the growth in the adoption of internet and smart devices in Africa as well as increased data centre outsourcing.
“The market in South Africa is growing rapidly, with only one tenth of data centre facilities outsourced compared with a third in the US and a quarter in Europe,” adds the company.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, but Teraco says the deal is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2015.
“We are pleased to be announcing our funds’ first investment in Africa with this exciting opportunity, which is another example of our technology strategy of backing strong market leaders in fast growing markets,” said Richard Sanders, Partner and Co-head of the Technology team at Permira.
