REIT Digital Realty, a colocation operator with headquarters in San Francisco, California, has expanded into the African continent with acquisition of Medallion Data Centres with presence in Lagos and Abuja says reports
Kenya and Mozambique are set to have the insignia of Digital Realty data centre markets in the world gains pace.
Also TheTechCapital reports that with this development, Digital Realty is the first United States’ pure real estate investment trust (REIT) to be present on three countries beating rivals including Equinix, CyrusOne, and CoreSite Realty.
Additionally, TheTechCapital reported that this leadership by Digital Realty came through the acquisition of Nigeria’s colocation and interconnection provider, Medallion Data Centres, through a joint venture with the Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund.
Medallion operates two data centres, one in Lagos, the most populous urban metropolitan area in Africa with approximately 15 million people, and one in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
Medallion’s Lagos data centre serves as a connectivity hub in Western Africa with over 70 carriers and internet service providers, over 80% of the public peering traffic on the Nigerian Internet Exchange, and a peering point for all subsea cables currently operating in Nigeria with plans to serve as a peering point for the nine new subsea cables scheduled to be in operation in Lagos by 2023.
As part of the transaction, the joint venture is also acquiring a land parcel adjacent to the Lagos data centre to provide near-term expansion capacity. Medallion’s management team, led by CEO and co-founder Ike Nnamani, will continue to lead the business.
William Stein, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty, said: “Over the next decade, there will be huge opportunity for global businesses to tap into Africa’s expanding internet economy – with predictions that it could reach 5.2% of the continent’s GDP by 2025, contributing nearly $180 billion to its economy (up from $115 billion in 2020).
“By 2050, the internet economy has the potential to contribute $712 billion. Through major investment in the continent’s internet infrastructure, Digital Realty aims to be a core enabler of these economic and quality of life gains.”
