ABRY Partners Invests in European Firm e-Shelter

Private equity firm ABRY Partners continues to invest in the data center sector, acquiring a stake in e-Shelter, a European data center developer. e-Shelter has built more than 80,000 square meters (860,000 square feet) of data center space and is currently developing projects in Zurich and Frankfurt.

e-Shelter said the new investment would help it expand its data center construction efforts to meet demand in key European markets.

"We are delighted at the involvement of ABRY Partners and are convinced that ABRY will be a valuable partner in e-shelter’s further expansion," said Rupprecht Rittweger, the founder and Managing Director of e-shelter. "This investment will allow us to move forward quickly with the development of new sites. In addition to our new facility in Rüsselsheim, which will meet the latest technological standards in terms of cooling and energy efficiency, we are also planning further centers in Berlin and Munich."

ABRY Partners has been an active investor in the colocation and manage hosting industries. ABRY recently acquired Xand Technologies, owns a controlling interest in Toronto-area provider Q9 Networks and holds a significant equity stakes in Telx and DataPipe. It previously bought and sold CyrusOne and Hosted Solutions. All told, ABRY Partners has made investments worth more than $1.5 billion in the data center industry.

e-shelter opened its first data center in Switzerland in June 2011 in Rümlang near Zurich. Work on a further e-shelter data center in the Frankfurt area is now beginning in Rüsselsheim. A total of 17,600 square meters (190,000 square feet) of data center space will be completed in four construction phases on the 39,000 square meter site in Rüsselsheim. The first building is scheduled for completion in November 2012.