Digital Realty announces major expansion, acquisition in Brazil

Digital Realty will acquire 424 acres of undeveloped land in Loudoun County, Virginia for a total purchase price of $236.5 million, or approximately $558,000 per acre.  The site is adjacent to Washington Dulles International Airport and located near bulk transmission lines as well as a major fiber path.
 The site is also located less than four miles from Digital Realty's existing data center campuses in Ashburn, Virginia. 

"We are pleased to expand our footprint and strengthen our position in Northern Virginia, the largest and most important data center market in the world," said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein.  "Customers are looking for long-term commitment, along with the flexibility to support their deployments and connection nodes, as well as the ability to land and expand within the same location – all of which align perfectly with our Connected Campus™ strategy."

Separately, Digital Realty agreed to acquire Ascenty, a leading data center provider in Brazil, from private equity firm Great Hill Partners in a transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion. 

Ascenty has eight state-of-the-art data centers strategically located in the key Brazilian metro areas of São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza. Most of the Ascenty facilities have been designed and built to Tier III standards and meet internationally recognized facility and service standards. The Ascenty portfolio is comprised of 106.2 megawatts of total planned capacity, including 39.2 megawatts of capacity currently in-service, 34.0 megawatts of capacity under construction and 33.0 megawatts of potential additional capacity. In addition, Ascenty has options or leases on five separate sites representing up to an estimated incremental 66.5 megawatts of potential future growth capacity. Ascenty also operates a proprietary, 4,500-kilometer fiber network connecting Brazil's primary technology, finance, and population hubs of São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza.

Brookfield Infrastructure, an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest owners and operators of infrastructure assets globally, has committed to fund half of the required initial equity investment, currently estimated to be approximately $613 million, excluding Brookfield's share of the transaction costs, in exchange for 49% of the total equity interests in a joint venture entity expected to ultimately own Ascenty.

In addition,  Digital Realty has commenced an underwritten registered public offering of 8,500,000 shares of its common stock.