Oakley Capital Acquires German Host Intergenia

Oakley Capital Investments has agreed to acquire a 51 percent stake in German hosting company Intergenia AG, which operates the PlusServer, serverloft and SERVER4YOU hosting brands. Intergenia, which is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, operates the DataDock data center in Strasbourg, France and a U.S. facility in St. Louis. The company also owns WorldHostingDays, which operates a series of hosting conferences worldwide.

As part of the transaction, Oakley and its investors will supply 40 million euros ($53.5 million) of senior financing and equity. Intergenia's founders, including senior management, will retain a 49 percent stake in the business. The transaction is expected to be completed on Dec. 31.

Oakley is an experienced investor in the European hosting sector. It bought HostEurope in 2008 for 120 million pounds, and sold the company two years later for 220 million pounds. The company has also invested in Pipex.

“We are delighted to be backing such a talented management team in an industry, namely web hosting, which we know well," said Peter Dubens, Director of Oakley Capital Investments Limited. "Intergenia is an impressive company which has built one of Europe’s most energy efficient data centres, utilizing ground water cooling. The company’s highly efficient operating platform has allowed it to expand internationally with France, USA, Switzerland and Brazil being the largest contributors to revenue after Germany. intergenia is well positioned for growth in cloud hosting services and makes an attractive addition to Oakley Capital Private Equity L.P.’s portfolio

In a video from the Google Data Center Efficiency Summit in Zurich earlier this year, PlusServer CTO Jochen Berger describes how the company’s DataDock facility in Strasbourg uses groundwater cooling, pulling cold water from two wells that are 60 meters deep to support its heat exchangers. The ground water is between 12 and 14 C (54 to 57 degrees F).