Liberty Global and Digital Colony to Launch JV to Develop Edge Data Centers in Europe
May 21 2021 - 2:01AM
Business Wire
- AtlasEdge will serve growing European demand for scalable
data center capacity that brings applications and content closer to
the Edge
- Liberty Global contributing digital real estate holdings
into the Joint Venture (JV), highlighting strong underlying value
while unlocking growth potential in partnership with Digital
Colony
- JV will create a European Edge infrastructure platform with
over 100 active Edge facilities
- Seasoned industry executive Josh Joshi to become the
Executive Chairman of the AtlasEdge Board of Directors upon closing
of the JV, with a focus on extending the organization across
Europe
- JV is expected to launch during Q3 2021 and is subject to
regulatory approvals and other customary closing
conditions
Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK), one of the
world’s leading converged video, broadband and communications
companies, and Digital Colony, a leading global investment firm
dedicated to digital infrastructure, today announced the creation
of AtlasEdge Data Centres, a European Edge data center
business.
The creation of the proposed JV is subject to receipt of
customary regulatory and merger control approvals. Liberty Global
and Digital Colony expect the transaction to close in Q3 2021.
AtlasEdge will deliver services via an extensive network of
facilities located close to consumer and enterprise end users, the
“edge” of the network. The company aims to serve the growing demand
from cloud providers, streaming services and enterprises for
high-performance, scalable and secure facilities through which they
can distribute low-latency applications and services such as 5G,
gaming, IOT and edge compute. As data traffic grows and gravitates
to the edge of the network, AtlasEdge’s ability to access edge
connectivity and efficiently distribute mission-critical and
content-heavy data traffic will be increasingly relevant.
Liberty Global will contribute digital infrastructure assets,
including its technical real estate portfolios, at levels
consistent with European digital infrastructure valuations,
highlighting the strong underlying value embedded in its
businesses. Liberty Global will also provide strategic and
operational support to the business. Digital Colony will provide
operating expertise, strategic direction and capital to support the
significant growth and consolidation opportunity in edge
co-location services across Europe.
Upon closing of the JV, seasoned industry executive Josh Joshi
will join and lead AtlasEdge’s Board of Directors as Executive
Chairman. Mr. Joshi has over 20 years of experience building value
in the digital infrastructure sector, holding senior positions at
several multinational companies including CFO of Interxion, a
leading provider of carrier and cloud-neutral data center solutions
across EMEA. Mr. Joshi will support the strategic growth of
AtlasEdge with a focus on building the organization as well as
extending its reach across European markets.
AtlasEdge will be supported by anchor tenancies from Liberty
Global operating companies in four European countries: Virgin Media
in the UK and in Ireland, Sunrise-UPC in Switzerland and UPC in
Poland. With unprecedented local reach into consumers and
businesses, AtlasEdge will provide infrastructure services to third
parties at the edge with a focus on performance, low-latency,
scalability, and quality of experience.
Mike Fries, CEO Liberty Global, comments: “Combining Liberty
Global’s technical real estate and track record in building
successful, sustainable businesses with Digital Colony’s expertise
in digital infrastructure investment creates an exciting platform
for growth that will deliver long-term value. The proposed joint
venture presents significant growth opportunities as we look to
build this business into a leading European edge data center
operator. Furthermore, since several of our operating companies
will become anchor tenants, Liberty Global customers will also
benefit from better and more responsive services.”
“We are excited to be partnering with Liberty Global on the
development of AtlasEdge,” adds Marc Ganzi President and CEO of
Colony Capital and CEO of Digital Colony. “The proposed joint
venture will unlock the growth potential of Liberty’s digital real
estate holdings and capitalize on the emerging demand we are seeing
for edge compute across Europe. It’s an opportunity for us to apply
the entire Digital Colony value-add playbook, leveraging our
operating expertise, strategic M&A capabilities, and access to
institutional capital in partnership with a world-class
organization like Liberty Global. I also know AtlasEdge will
benefit from Josh Joshi’s insights and network across the digital
infrastructure landscape.”
Further information, including organizational updates and other
relevant news regarding the proposed JV, will be available at
www.atlasedge.eu.
ABOUT LIBERTY GLOBAL
Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) is one of the
world’s leading converged video, broadband and communications
companies, with operations in seven European countries under the
consumer brands Virgin Media, Telenet, UPC, the combined Sunrise
UPC, as well as VodafoneZiggo, which is owned through a 50/50 joint
venture. Our substantial scale and commitment to innovation enable
us to invest in the infrastructure and digital platforms that
empower our customers to make the most of the digital
revolution.
Liberty Global delivers market-leading products through
next-generation networks that connect customers subscribing to 49
million broadband, video, fixed and mobile telephony services
across our brands. We also have significant investments in ITV,
All3Media, ITI Neovision, LionsGate, the Formula E racing series
and several regional sports networks. For more information, please
visit www.libertyglobal.com.
ABOUT DIGITAL COLONY
Digital Colony is a leading global investment firm dedicated to
digital infrastructure. With a heritage of over 25 years investing
in and operating businesses across the digital ecosystem including
towers, data centers, fiber, and small cells, the Digital Colony
team manages a $32 billion portfolio of digital infrastructure
assets on behalf of its shareholders and limited partners. Digital
Colony, a subsidiary of Colony Capital Inc. (NYSE: CLNY), is
headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, with offices in New York, Los
Angeles, London and Singapore. For more information, please visit
www.digitalcolony.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210520006151/en/
Liberty Global Investor Relations: Max Adkins +44 20 8483
6336 Steve Carroll +1 303 784 4505 Corporate Communications:
Molly Bruce +1 303 220 4202 Matt Beake +44 20 8483 6428 Digital
Colony Investor Relations: Severin White swhite@clny.com
Corporate Communications: Julie Hamilton +1 212 355 4449
clny-jf@joelefrank.com
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