The deal was announced in August 2016 but has been completed this week, Robin Constantin, vice president of sales for Bell Wholesale, told Capacity at the Capacity North America conference in Toronto.
Bell Canada owned a minority stake in Q9 in October 2012 when the company was bought by an investor group comprised of Bell, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners. That gave Bell Canada a 35.4% stake.
The company bought out the other 74.6% for C$675 million (US $512 million), including Q9’s debt.
The move is the latest in a series of moves by Bell Canada to expand its operations. Two years ago the company bought Bell Aliant, which provides services on Canada’s Atlantic coastal provinces, and in May 2016 it announced plans to buy MTS, the local operator in the mid-west province of Manitoba. That deal is expected to be completed in early 2017.
“Bell and Q9 now operate the country’s largest network of data centres in Canada,” said the company about the acquisition of Q9.
