nLighten, a digital infrastructure platform of I Squared Capital, a leading global infrastructure investor, has completed the acquisition of Proximity Data Centres. Proximity is a leading regional platform in the UK with ten carrier-neutral edge data centers in Birmingham, Bridgend, Bristol, Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Rugby, and Swindon. RBC Capital Markets acted as financial adviser to nLighten on the transaction.
“Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions this year, nLighten has grown into a leading pan-European edge data center platform with 26 data centers, 53 megawatts of potential capacity and 130 employees,” said Mohamed El Gazzar, Senior Partner of I Squared Capital in London. “We are excited that nLighten has grown so quickly and established itself in the three largest data center markets in Europe: Germany, France and the UK.”
As a mature market with large economic regions that can benefit from more distributed data centers, the UK is a logical choice for nLighten’s expansion. Proximity’s network of high-performance data centers, strong reputation, agility, and impressive track record of entering local markets, position the company well for capturing the increasing shift to the edge across the country.
The regional distribution of Proximity’s data centers fit well within nLighten’s strategy of integrating data centers into regional markets and its high standards of sustainability align with nLighten, which aims to reduce the environmental footprints of its data centers. Proximity’s ten data centers currently source 100 percent of their electricity from renewables, and the company intends to maintain that sourcing, even at full capacity.