Under the terms of the agreement, Interxion shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7067 Digital Realty shares per Interxion share. The transaction values Interxion at approximately $93.48 per ordinary share or approximately $8.4 billion of total enterprise value.
The combined company will expand Interxion's communities of interest in Europe by extending it across the combined company's global footprint. In addition, it will build on Digital Realty's track record of hyperscale development, representing an extension of the connected campus strategy that enables enterprise customers to use the right products – from colocation to hyperscale footprints – to create value by efficiently deploying critical infrastructure and seamlessly connecting to a robust and growing universe of cloud platforms and connectivity service providers.
"We are excited to deliver this compelling opportunity for all our stakeholders while bolstering our ability to offer a truly global platform to serve our customers' needs," said David Ruberg, chief executive officer, Interxion. "As part of Digital Realty, stakeholders will have the opportunity to continue to reap the benefits of the value that we have created via the communities of interest approach in our carrier- and cloud-neutral European data centre portfolio. They will also be able to participate in the value created by extending our approach across Digital Realty's global footprint, complementary customer base and significant presence in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. We also believe our stakeholders will benefit from Digital Realty's investment grade balance sheet and lower cost of capital. We look forward to working closely with Bill Stein and the entire Digital Realty team to consummate the transaction and combine the best of our companies to build the world's preeminent data centre provider."
Together, Interxion's European business and Digital Realty's European footprint, will create a leading pan-European data center presence, offering consistent, high-quality services with low-latency access to approximately 70% of the GDP in Europe.
"This strategic and complementary transaction builds upon Digital Realty's established foundation of serving market demand for colocation, scale and hyperscale requirements in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific and leverages Interxion's European colocation and interconnection expertise, enhancing the combined company's capabilities to enable customers to solve for the full spectrum of data centre requirements across a global platform," added William Stein, chief executive officer, Digital Realty. "The transaction is expected to be accretive to the long-term growth trajectory of the combined organization, and to establish a global platform that we believe will significantly enhance our ability to create long-term value for customers, shareholders and employees of both companies."
Stein will lead this newly formed company serving as its CEO. Additionally, Digital Realty’s EMEA managing director Jeffrey Tapley will work jointly with Ruberg on the integration of Interxion's and Digital Realty's businesses.
The board of directors of the combined company will consist of nine board members selected by Digital Realty and one board member designated by Interxion. Laurence Chapman, the current chairman of the Digital Realty board of directors, will serve as chairman of the board of directors of the newly combined company.
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both Digital Realty and Interxion and is expected to close in 2020, subject to the approval of Interxion and Digital Realty shareholders and other customary closing conditions.
