Aligned Data Centers Moves Into Latin America With ODATA Buy

Aligned Data Centers says it has reached an agreement to buy ODATA, which will make Aligned one of the largest data center providers in the Americas, the company says.

Aligned Data Centers announced Tuesday it will buy ODATA, a massive Latin American data center provider, which will make it one of the largest service providers in the Americas once the deal closes.

ODATA is one of the fastest-growing hyperscale data center platforms in Latin America, Aligned said in a statement. The purchase of ODATA will give Plano, Texas-based Aligned facilities strategically located across Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Chile, as well as additional data centers currently under development across the region.

[RELATED: Data Center 50: The Coolest Data Center Companies Of 2022]

The transaction is expected to close in early 2023. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“The acquisition combines a significant growth runway for expansion and a proven ability to deliver capacity at maximum speed, with regional expertise and partnerships, enhanced fiscal resources, and a resilient supply chain, to deliver a world-class data center platform that meets the demands of our global hyperscale and enterprise customers,” Aligned Data Centers CEO Andrew Schapp said in a statement. “We’re excited to welcome the ODATA team to the Aligned fold and look forward to fostering our joint commitments to customer centricity and operational excellence as we embark on the next phase of innovation and growth.”

Aligned Data Center said post-close it will have a total of 30 sites at full build with an energy capacity of 2 gigawatts.

By comparison, Amazon, the world’s largest data center operator has approximately 120 sites and uses 12 gigawatts of renewable energy to power 65 percent of the company’s operations, according to an April report from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Aligned anticipates data center needs growing rapidly in Latin America in the next 10 years, driven by cloud service providers hypserscalers and demands from government agencies. Aligned said it believes it will be well positioned to capture the expansion in that region with the ODATA acquisitions.

“The ODATA team and I are very excited to be joining Aligned Data Centers,” Ricardo Alário, CEO of ODATA said according to a statement. “The strategic merger of the ODATA and Aligned platforms will provide customers with a broader base of both available and expansion capacity in key locations across the Americas, as well as additional breadth of experience and depth of knowledge across an expanded team of infrastructure experts. We look forward to accelerating the growth of our platform with Aligned and setting a successful cultural course focused on customer and staff centricity, innovation, and operational excellence.”

Aligned said it will partially fund the purchase of ODATA itself, along with private equity group SDC Capital Partners. Also involved in the deal were Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsu Brasileiro, S.A., and MUFG Bank, also based in Japan, who acted as co-structuring coordinators. Deutsche Bank and Nomura Holdings in Boston, were the deal’s lead arrangers for debt financing.