Interxion Shareholders Greenlight Acquisition by Digital Realty

Interxion shareholders are onboard with management’s plan to sell the company to its US-based rival Digital Realty Trust.

The Dutch company’s investors voted Thursday in favor of the stock-for-stock deal management agreed to in October. The approval came despite hesitation by some of Interxion’s largest shareholders, who were reportedly concerned that they weren’t getting enough for their shares.

The first reports of the concerns came quickly after the deal was announced, but Digital last month sweetened the offer by issuing about $1.5 billion in bonds to pay off Interxion’s debt once the deal was closed.

The two companies expect to close the deal in the first half of the year.

“We are pleased that our shareholders have shown their strong support for our pending combination with Digital Realty,” Interxion CEO David Rubert said in a statement Thursday. “The vote today was an important step in the process of bringing together two leading companies to create an even more significant global competitor in the data center services business.”

Digital Realty, based in San Francisco, is the world’s second-largest data center provider by revenue. The largest is Redwood City, California-based Equinix.

Equinix became the largest provider in Europe in 2016, after it acquired TelecityGroup for $3.8 billion, making Interxion the second-largest player in the region. If Digital’s Interxion deal closes as planned, Digital will become Europe’s second-largest data center provider.

Related:Equinix CEO: Digital Realty’s Interxion Deal ‘Doesn’t Close the Gap’

Digital and Interxion management agreed in October to exchange about 0.7 of a Digital share for every share of Interxion, with the total deal value being about $8.4 billion.