American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) and Stonepeak say they have inked an agreement that calls for Stonepeak, on behalf of certain affiliated investment vehicles, to buy approximately 29% of American Tower’s U.S. data center business. Stonepeak will invest in common equity and mandatorily convertible preferred equity to the tune of $2.5 billion, implying an enterprise value of approximately $10.5 billion for the U.S. data center business, which American Tower holds as subsidiaries. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions. Equity and debt financing to support the deal has been arranged, the companies say.
American Tower’s data center business includes 27 data centers in 10 U.S. markets, more than 450 networks, 23 native cloud on-ramps, and more than 35,000 interconnections. The majority of the assets came via the acquisition of CoreSite Realty earlier this year (see “American Tower closes CoreSite Realty acquisition”).
“We are pleased to partner with Stonepeak in our U.S. data center business, where we expect to create value through growth in our highly interconnected, cloud on-ramp rich portfolio of data center assets,” commented Tom Bartlett, American Tower’s president and CEO. “In Stonepeak, we’ve found a like-minded partner, with deep communications infrastructure experience and a long-term investment philosophy that aligns with the principles of American Tower and our longer-term strategy in the data centers segment.
“While this transaction supports the equity financing component for our previously completed CoreSite acquisition, it also creates a platform through which growth opportunities can be strategically evaluated and financed, with American Tower and Stonepeak committed to executing on opportunities as the 5G ecosystem continues to develop,” Bartlett concluded.
“American Tower has established one of the premier network dense, interconnection-focused data center platforms in the U.S. through CoreSite and previous acquisitions, which we view as a great fit for our core infrastructure strategy,” added Andrew Thomas, managing director and co-head of communications at Stonepeak. “The platform is strategically positioned to be at the forefront of the continued shift from a traditional centralized infrastructure model to a cloud-based, connected and distributed digital infrastructure model and we are excited to partner with the American Tower team to help accelerate investment behind this trend in the years to come.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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