Infinity SDC sells Slough datacentre assets to rival Virtus

Colocation provider Infinity SDC has sold its flagship facility in Slough to rival operator Virtus Data Centres, as it prepares for the opening of its new site within the former London Olympic Park.

The acquisition has seen Virtus purchase 100% of the share capital in the company responsible for running Infinity’s Slough datacentre, along with its assets, operating staff and users.

The deal is being financed through a joint investment by Brockton Capital and Singapore Technologies Telemedia, and will – Virtus claims – double the amount of capacity it can offer customers to around 35MW.

The newly acquired site is set to become the fourth datacentre Virtus operates within the confines of the M25, and – as such – has been renamed Virtus London4. The company also has facilities in Enfield and Hayes, and currently has an offer in on a third site in an undisclosed location.

Virtus CEO Neil Cresswell said the company has not ruled out hitting the acquisition trail again to meet customer demands for additional locations within Greater London.

"We are committed to long-term, sustainable and scalable expansion, and we were being asked by customers and prospects to offer additional locations, including Slough,” he said.

“London4 is a great strategic fit for us as we already share a number of customers, and offer the same high quality operational model. Furthermore, it fits our brand of efficient, flexible, connected datacentre solutions.”

In a separate statement to Computer Weekly, Infinity SDC said, following the completion of the deal, it plans to focus its resources on accelerating the development of its London portfolio of datacentres.

“Of particular importance is the development of Infinity Stratford at Here East, the former Olympic Press and Broadcast Centre currently being redeveloped into a new 1.2 million sq ft digital hub for education, media and technology companies,” the statement said.

“Fully live in mid-2016, Infinity Stratford will be one of the largest and most efficient datacentres in Europe with over 100,000 sq ft of technical space.”

The Slough site is also home to Jisc’s education-focused shared services initiative. Computer Weekly approached the education network for comment on what it makes of the deal, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

News of the deal comes at the tail end of a busy year for mergers and acquisitions activity within the datacentre colocation space, with Equinix recently receiving the green light from the European Commission for its bid to acquire rival TelecityGroup.