Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based investment firm, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Teraco Data Environments, Africa’s provider of colocation datacentre infrastructure. 

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and the customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.

Larry Hamelsky, Managing Director at Berkshire Partners, said: “We believe that Teraco is exceptionally well-positioned to capitalize on the fast growth of the Sub-Saharan datacentre infrastructure market given its highly interconnected ecosystems, well-designed facilities, and ability to offer a wide array of deployments. We are thrilled to be partnering with Teraco’s talented management team to support the company’s continued success.”

Based in Johannesburg and established in 2008, Teraco is the largest provider of datacentre services in Africa. 

The company offers vendor-neutral colocation and other related services in secure and resilient datacentres. 

The Permira funds, an existing shareholder, will remain a significant investor.

The Permira funds initially backed a Teraco management buyout in December 2014 and in that time the business has multiplied its capacity more than six times. 

Michail Zekkos, Partner at Permira, said: “The past four years have been a transformational journey for Teraco and we are very pleased to have played a role in growing the business, expanding its ecosystem, and delivering such strong results. We remain very committed to Teraco and the management team – something that is underscored by our funds’ continuing investment – and we are excited about bringing in a new partner to support further expansion.” 

“Continued secular demand driven by Sub-Saharan Africa’s digital transformation, the early stages of outsourcing, and cloud penetration means that the future looks very positive for Teraco, and we look forward to supporting the team.”

The company operates five high-quality facilities with 30MW of critical power load serving more than 450 clients, including global internet companies, across five core ecosystems – telecoms, managed service providers, content, enterprise and financial services. 

With more than 13,500 interconnects, Teraco’s datacentres are the most interconnected facilities in Africa, allowing clients to connect directly to each other, to the onramps of all major cloud providers, as well as to the continent’s largest and fastest growing Internet Exchange Point, NAPAfrica.

The datacentre market in Africa is poised for continued strong growth with increasing demand for global applications, content, and the accelerating adoption of cloud services. 

Teraco has built a strategic position to capture this regional opportunity as a trusted and secure partner with resilient datacentre facilities built to international standards.

Lex Van Wyk, CEO of Teraco, said: “Berkshire Partners has prior experience investing in datacentres and appreciates the business that we have built. We are delighted to welcome them as our new majority shareholder. In addition, with the Permira funds staying on as a shareholder, there remains continuity in the shareholder base. It is business as usual for the employees and management team of Teraco, and more importantly, for our clients.”