Peak 10 to Acquire ViaWest from Shaw

We have some data center consolidation to look at this morning.  Peak 10 has announced a definitive agreement to acquire ViaWest for $1.675B in cash.

ViaWest is currently owned by Shaw Communications, which bought the company back in 2014 for $1.2B.  They don’t seem to have done too badly with the assets as they are exiting with a profit, but like a few other network operators they seem to have cooled on directly owning assets in the cloud and colo space.  Shaw will remain as partners/customers of the combined company.

Viawest operates some 800,000 square feet of colo space in 9 markets west of the Mississippi and has a foothold in Amsterdam.  Peak 10 operates some 890,000 square feet of colo space in 10 markets east of the Mississippi.

Both blend raw colo with managed services and cloud capabilities and seem like they will fit together well.  Peak 10 is majority owned by GI Partners, which itself owned a piece of ViaWest before 2014 before Shaw stepped in.   So we’re not exactly talking strangers here.

Combined the footprint will span 20 markets nationwide, although somehow still managing to avoid the major data center hubs of northern Virginia, the NY/NJ metro area, and all of California.

Peak 10 CEO Chris Downie will stay in his current role for the combined company, while Viawest CEO Nancy Phillips will move to the executive Chair of the Board slot.

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Categories: Datacenter · Mergers and Acquisitions