Vantage Data Centers Announces $6.4 Billion Equity Investment Led by DigitalBridge and Silver Lake

Vantage Data Centers’ portfolio includes 32 operational or developing hyperscale data center campuses across five continents. Pictured is a data center on the company’s Phoenix, Arizona campus.

DENVER & BOCA RATON, Fla. & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data center campuses, today announced a $6.4 billion equity investment led by investment vehicles managed by DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG) (“DigitalBridge”), the leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure, and Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing.

The investment, across North America and EMEA, is incremental to the recently announced €1.5 billion to be invested by AustralianSuper in Vantage EMEA and includes expected investment from DigitalBridge and Silver Lake co-investors. These investments accelerate and extend Vantage’s strategic capabilities across North America and EMEA to partner with global hyperscalers in meeting unprecedented cloud and AI demand.

The combined investments highlight the long-term commitment of two category-leading investors to the business. Silver Lake launched Vantage in 2010 as a single data center campus in Santa Clara, California, recruited the management team that continues to lead Vantage today, and grew the company to have the then-largest wholesale data center footprint in Silicon Valley focused on serving sophisticated technology companies. A DigitalBridge-managed vehicle acquired Vantage in 2017 and has been the key strategic partner for nearly seven years, further emphasizing the company’s strategy to support cloud and now AI adoption and scaling Vantage into a global market leader with 32 operational or developing hyperscale data center campuses across five continents.

The new investment from DigitalBridge and Silver Lake, which follows several years of record growth at Vantage, is a key enabler of the business’ strategic growth and investment plan to meet customer demand. Vantage owns or controls 25 sites in North America and EMEA totaling more than three gigawatts of expected capacity. As part of the company’s investment plan, Vantage’s strategic land bank is expected to drive an estimated $30 billion of additional development, extending Vantage's track record of bringing market leading capacity and innovative solutions to customers around the world. In connection with the investment, Vantage will continue its development of next-generation data centers, including energy-efficient and sustainable designs purpose-built for AI and large-scale cloud deployments.

“We are delighted that Silver Lake is joining DigitalBridge to support Vantage’s continued expansion across North America and EMEA,” said Sureel Choksi, president and CEO of Vantage. “Cloud computing, AI and related technologies are driving unprecedented demand for digital infrastructure. The market opportunity in front of us is extraordinary, and we are excited to chart our next phase of growth with two premier investors who have been great partners to us and have an unmatched understanding of our global technology customers and their infrastructure needs.”

“We are excited about supporting the next chapter of Vantage’s growth in partnership with Silver Lake,” said Jon Mauck, senior managing director at DigitalBridge, who leads the company’s data center investment strategy. “We believe the combination of DigitalBridge’s unparalleled insight into the digital infrastructure landscape and Silver Lake’s technology focus creates a unique partnership to further enable Vantage’s strategic expansion and long-term growth plan. Vantage is a critical partner to the leading cloud and technology platforms globally and is well positioned to continue to support accelerating adoption of cloud- and AI-based technologies.”

“We are proud of what we pioneered when we launched Vantage, and we are thrilled to invest and partner again with this exceptional management team alongside DigitalBridge to drive the next generation of energy-efficient, hyperscale data center leadership,” said Greg Mondre, co-CEO and managing partner, and Lee Wittlinger, managing director, of Silver Lake. “Silver Lake is committed to bringing to bear the depth and breadth of our specialized expertise across the technology landscape to strengthen Vantage’s partnerships with the world’s biggest and most sophisticated technology companies and continue to meet their most challenging data center needs.”

The transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.

About Vantage Data Centers

Vantage Data Centers powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the world’s well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across five continents in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.

For more information, visit https://www.vantage-dc.com.

About DigitalBridge Group, Inc.

DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG) is a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure. With a heritage of over 25 years investing in and operating businesses across the digital ecosystem, including cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells and edge infrastructure, the DigitalBridge team manages $75 billion of infrastructure assets on behalf of its limited partners and shareholders. Headquartered in Boca Raton, DigitalBridge has key offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Luxembourg and Singapore.

For more information, visit https://www.digitalbridge.com.

About Silver Lake

Silver Lake is a global technology investment firm with approximately $101 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia. Silver Lake’s portfolio companies collectively generate nearly $266 billion of revenue annually and employ approximately 540,000 people globally.

For more information, visit https://www.silverlake.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” or “potential” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, and may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Factors that might cause such a difference include changes to the level of demand for hyperscale data center campuses, the impact of AI and related technologies on the demand for digital infrastructure, plans for capital deployment by Vantage, whether the equity recapitalization transactions described in this release will be completed in the timeframe anticipated or at all, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in DigitalBridge’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023 and September 30, 2023, and its other reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements reflect DigitalBridge’s good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance. DigitalBridge cautions investors not to unduly rely on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. DigitalBridge is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release, nor to conform prior statements to actual results or revised expectations, and DigitalBridge does not intend to do so.

Contacts
Mark Freeman
Vantage Data Centers
mfreeman@vantage-dc.com
+1-202-680-4243

Robin Bectel
REQ for Vantage Data Centers
vdc@req.co
+1-202-936-6335

Jon Keehner / Sarah Salky
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher for DigitalBridge
dbrg-jf@joelefrank.com
+1-212-355-4449

Matt Benson
Silver Lake
matthew.benson@silverlake.com
+1-212-401-6055

Jennifer Stroud
Edelman Smithfield for Silver Lake
jennifer.stroud@edelmansmithfield.com
+1-646-565-1792