Digital Bridge to acquire data center firm Yondr Group

Digital infrastructure investment giant DigitalBridge has reached an agreement to acquire Yondr Group, a global developer and operator of data centers for tenants of major technology companies.

While terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, London-based Yondr will continue to operate as an independent company within the DigitalBridge portfolio after the deal closes, the companies announced Monday morning. The companies expect the deal to close early next year.

Yondr has previously received investments from single-family real estate investment practice Cathexis, Apollo Global Management and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. The company specializes in the hyperscale market, providing huge blocks of data center capacity to the world’s largest technology companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

According to DigitalBridge, Yondr has more than 420 megawatts of capacity dedicated to hyperscalers, as well as land to support potential expansion of up to 1 gigawatt. The majority of the firm’s portfolio is located outside the United States, with businesses located in many markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In North America, Yondr operates data centers in Northern Virginia and Toronto.

DigitalBridge views its investment in Yondr as an opportunity to fund the expansion of the hyperscale provider’s global portfolio while accessing stable revenue streams through Yondr’s long-term leases with the credit-grade tech giants driving the global data center boom.

“Yondr’s assets and strong relationships with leading hyperscale customers align with DigitalBridge’s vision to support the future of digital infrastructure,” DigitalBridge Senior Managing Director John Mauck said in a written statement. “Yondr expands our existing data center portfolio and strengthens our ability to support hyperscale enterprises. Together, we are well positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for hyperscale data centers, fueled by artificial intelligence, cloud computing and ongoing digital transformation across all industries.”

The deal is just the latest in a growing wave of major investments and M&A deals in the data center industry over the past six months. With over $84 billion in digital infrastructure assets under management, DigitalBridge has been involved in some of the largest projects.

The company’s acquisition of Yondr comes just days after reports that DigitalBridge was considering selling Brazilian data center company Scala in a deal that could be valued at more than $2 billion. Earlier this month, DigitalBridge-backed DataBank completed a $2 billion equity raise thanks to a major investment from pension fund AustralianSuper. In one of the biggest investments of the year, DigitalBridge raised $9.2 billion in June from subsidiary Vantage Data Centers.

The overall data center M&A market has exploded in 2024, with deal volume poised to reach record levels. In the first half of the year alone, merger and acquisition activity reached nearly $40 billion, exceeding the total value of deals in 2023.