Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has announced that it has entered into an exclusivity agreement to partner with Altice France S.A. (Altice France) to establish the first nationwide independent distributed colocation provider in France through the acquisition of a majority interest in UltraEdge, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
UltraEdge is currently a part of SFR SA, a fully-owned subsidiary of Altice France. It enables essential data storage and connectivity services benefiting from an installed capacity of more than 45MW and 33,000sqm of owned office space as well as from being interconnected via SFR’s nationwide fiber network.
According to a press release, “UltraEdge represents a portfolio of 257 data centers interconnected via SFR’s countrywide fiber network which will be carved out through a demerger of SFR’s data center operations, in order to establish the first nationwide independent distributed colocation provider in France.” Explaining how the deal would go through, it said, “The passive infrastructure and equipment of the data centers will be transferred to UltraEdge with servers and active equipment retained at SFR. Through its distributed portfolio of facilities and proximity to end users, UltraEdge is expected to benefit from the increasing demand for next-generation ultra-low latency connectivity services.”
MSIM made the acquisition through investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP), a private infrastructure investment platform within MSIM.
“We believe the opportunity to create an independent and distributed edge colocation provider, benefiting from access to SFR’s nationwide fiber infrastructure in France, makes UltraEdge a very attractive investment for MSIP,” said Yacine Saidji, Managing Director and Co-Head of Europe for MSIP.
The recent deal with Morgan Stanley would be a shot in the arm for Altice, a telecom operator and media outfit, had been struggling with debt related issues for some time.
