M&A, IPO, strategic developments, asset-light, global expansions
The sector picked up momentum in the past week, with strategic activity in several different geographies and more M&A transactions.
There were some notable developments on the strategic side in APAC. Data centre DCI Indonesia went public as it continues to push in the hyperscale data centre market, while STT GDC formed a JV with Hyosung Heavy Industries to enter the data centre market in Seoul.
For the second week in a row, there were a significant number of M&A transactions. On the SMB side, Miss Group in the UK acquired Packweb and Germany’s dogado acquired HEROLD in Austria. Meanwhile, Cognizant made another acquisition and picked up cloud consultancy Servian in Australia and New York-area MSP Webair brought in Crest Rock Partners as its first investors.
Another transaction that took place in the last week saw Digital Fortress acquire the colocation business and data centre assets of Atmosera. Atmosera continues to emphasize the managed Azure part of its business and is going more asset-light to double down on the momentum it has built and the upside that it wants to continue pursuing. Elsewhere in the sector, providers continue to rely on public cloud for their underlying infrastructure as service providers focus in on other areas of value-add. WP Engine’s Flywheel shared some data points about its move to Google Cloud.
There was also chatter in the rumour mill around data centre operator Global Switch.
On the data centre side, IXcellerate is expanding in Moscow and is involved in the IXAfrica move into Kenya, while INAP revealed plans to expand in Los Angeles.
Finally, earnings season is approaching and iomart Group in the UK released its latest half-year results. Growth was sluggish and on an organic basis, there was some decline. The results reflect some of the impact that has come from the weak macroeconomic environment.
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