Digital infrastructure company, Equinix announced that the acquisition of West African data center and connectivity solutions provider MainOne has now been completed. The $320 million acquisition marks the beginning of the company’s expansion into Africa.
Expands into Africa
The acquisition augments the company’s strategy to become a leading African carrier-neutral digital infrastructure company. Equinix aims to bring transformative technologies and connectivity to Nigeria, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire. Equinix’s expansion into West Africa allows organizations inside and outside of Africa access to global and regional markets.
The company also stated that MainOne is one of the most exciting technology businesses to emerge from Africa. Equinix also stated that Lagos, where the company headquarter is located, is becoming a key connectivity hub for the wider West Africa region. MainOne’s assets include:
- Four operational data centers, which will add more than 64,000 gross square feet of space to Platform Equinix, in addition to 570,000 square feet of land for future expansions.
- An extensive submarine network extending 7,000 kilometers from Portugal to Lagos, Accra and along the West African coast, with landing stations in Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
- A terrestrial network of more than 1,200 kilometers of reliable terrestrial fiber in Lagos, Edo and Ogun States. Connectivity to terrestrial sites extends across 65 points of presence (PoPs) in cities across Portugal, Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
- Access to key internet exchanges enabling low latency to key global networks, including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook.
- An estimated 800+ business-to-business customers, including major international technology enterprises, social media companies, global telecommunications operators, financial service companies and cloud service providers.
- Nearly 500 employees and a management team with a deep understanding of local and international markets.
- The facilities currently generate approximately US$60M annualized (Q2’21LQA) revenue with a purchase multiple of approximately 14x EBITDA.
- MainOne will operate under a new brand “MainOne, an Equinix company”
- Funke Opeke will continue to lead under the new brand of “MainOne, an Equinix company.”
- Globally, Platform Equinix is comprised of 240 data centers across 66 metros and 27 countries on 6 continents, providing data center and interconnection services to 10,000+ companies including more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies.