Owners of Echelon Data Centres are undertaking a strategic assessment of the Dublin-based company that could result in the sale of part or all of their holdings, people familiar with the matter said.
Starwood Capital Group and Echelon founder and chief executive officer Niall Molloy are leading the review, with Deutsche Bank AG and Eastdil Secured LLC engaged to help prepare potential market outreach and related materials, according to the people.
Those holding stakes in the company may seek a valuation as high as c4.5 billion, equivalent to about $5.2 billion, the people added. Several of the people noted that any ultimate price would be tied to the successful delivery of projects currently in Echelons pipeline.
The timeline for a potential sale process is not fixed. The people said preparations could lead to the formal launch of a process in the coming weeks, but deliberations are continuing and the owners retain the option to keep the asset for a longer period.
Echelon is headquartered in Dublin and operates a portfolio of data center campuses across Europe and North America. The company currently has operating and in-development capacity in excess of 700 megawatts, and it intends to add roughly 1.5 gigawatts of capacity across new locations over the next five years.
Those capacity figures and the stated development plan were cited as central elements that would influence valuation as the owners review strategic alternatives. Beyond the immediate question of ownership, the review will determine whether the businesss planned expansion and pipeline delivery proceed under the current ownership structure or within a different investor configuration.
Context and next steps
- The owners have hired advisers to assemble materials and evaluate options ahead of any decision to sell.
- A potential sale price has been discussed publicly by the people involved, but it is contingent on future project delivery.
- No definitive timetable has been set; owners could launch a process soon or decide to retain the business.