Cequel Data Centers Acquires Colo4Dallas

The acquisitions continue in the data center industry, bringing additional private equity investment in the sector. Today a new player made its first acquisition, and is promising more to come.

Cequel Data Centers this morning announced the acquisition of Colo4Dallas, an established provider of carrier-neutral colocation services that operates a 68,000 square foot data center in Dallas.

Cequel Data Centers was established by Cequel III, a St. Louis investment and management firm that has focused on the cable and telecom sectors. Cequel is partnering with two private equity firms, Thompson Street Capital Partners of St. Louis and Charterhouse Group of New York.

Colo4Dallas will operate as Colo4 LLC, a subsidiary of Cequel Data Centers. Paul Estes of Cequel III has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of Colo4. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We anticipate great growth opportunities in this business, as more and more companies are looking for the type of unrivaled support that Colo4 offers to maintain its customers’ mission-critical information systems,” Estes said.

"We look forward to growing Cequel Data Centers through additional acquisitions with these high-quality firms," said Jerry Kent, CEO of Cequel III. "We’re very pleased to have this opportunity to work with St. Louis-based Thompson Street and again collaborate with our colleagues at Charterhouse, with whom we have been partners for more than 25 years."

Jim Cooper, Managing Partner of Thompson Street Capital, said the comnpany expects Cequel to benefit from " explosive growth in demand for broadband Internet services.”

RBC Capital Markets was the sole lead arranger for the debt financing associated with this acquisition. RBC Daniels acted as financial advisor to the sellers.