Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) announced Friday a joint agreement to acquire atNorth, a leading Nordic data center operator, from Partners Group (OTC:PGPHF) in a transaction valued at approximately $4 billion, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
The partners outlined a provisional $4.2 billion (3.6 billion euros) financing package to fund the acquisition and future expansion.
Deal Snapshot
CPP Investments will invest roughly $1.6 billion for an estimated 60% controlling stake, while Equinix will hold the remaining 40%. Equinix expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its adjusted funds from operations per share upon closing.
atNorth operates eight data centers across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, with additional sites under development. The company has secured approximately 1 gigawatt of power capacity and maintains an installed and active development pipeline of around 800 megawatts expected to come online over the next five years. Several facilities are equipped with liquid cooling systems to support high-density AI and high-performance computing workloads.
Why The Nordics
The companies highlighted the Nordics as an increasingly attractive region for large-scale computing due to strong technical talent, resilient economies, access to renewable energy, and cooler climates.
“The scalable sites of atNorth are very complementary to Equinix’s connectivity services and global footprint. Combined with our joint focus on sustainability, this acquisition is expected to enhance our ability to help customers unlock the full potential of the Nordics’ expanding digital landscape,” said Bruce Owen, President, EMEA, Equinix.
“For businesses looking to scale with resilience, Equinix offers a future-ready infrastructure for long-term success, maintaining the jurisdictional and data sovereignty of organizations operating in the region,” Owen added.
atNorth CEO Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson called the deal “a powerful validation of atNorth’s journey and its market position as the leading Nordics data center platform,” adding that it is expected to enhance access to capital and deepen hyperscale relationships. The company will continue to operate under the atNorth brand.
EQIX Price Action: Equinix shares were unchanged at $948.02 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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