Australian colocation and cloud services provider NextDC has announced plans to acquire remaining shares in Asia Pacific Data Centre Group (APDC) for an approximate AU $210 million (approx. £127 million).
APDC’s sole assets are three data centre facilities already occupied by NextDC under long-term lease agreements – Sydney (S1), Melbourne (M1) and Perth (P1).
According to NextDC, the proposal was put forward following interest from rival bidder 360 Capital. The company reportedly feared a change of control would result in commercial risk.
The Australian firm offered a fully funded cash offer of AU $1.85 per share, over the AU $1.80 proposed by 360 Capital just a day earlier.
NextDC’s offer marks an 18.2% premium over APDC’s closing share price of AU $1.565 in May this year. The day previous to the share price announcement, 360 Capital acquired its initial 19.9% stake in the property trust for AU $1.56 per share.
NextDC has since bought an 18.6% stake in APDC for AU $38.2 million.
NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie noted in a statement that the company had changed its strategy over the last two years with plans to own more of its data centre properties.
It announced in 2015 that it would develop and own new data centres in Brisbane (B2) and Melbourne (M2).
‘S1, M1 and P1 are properties well known to us and represent a low risk acquisition for NextDC, which can be funded from our existing cash reserves…’ he added.
Former CFO and executive director at NextDC, Robin Khuda has previously commented on the growth of the data centre and cloud markets in the APAC region, despite a lag behind the United States.
‘Cloud computing in the Asia Pacific is probably about three to four years behind the U. S., but there is a massive catch-up so cloud operators are investing significant money… Right now there’s an enormous shift to the cloud,’ he said.
