Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG), controlled by Danna Azrieli, is expanding its data centers activity. The company reported today that it had signed an agreement to acquire a privately held company in this field in Norway.
Azrieli Group will buy 100% of the shares in Green Mountain for NIS 2.285 billion. Green Mountain was founded in in 2009. In 2020, it posted a loss of NIS 6 million, despite 18% growth in its revenue to NIS 71 million.
The acquired company has three main activities: design and construction of server farms with high levels of data security; provision of advanced server farm services to enterprises and wholesale customers; and operating efficient server farms using power from renewable sources only.
Green Mountain operates three server farms in Norway. It also has potential for future construction and development on these and other sites, amounting to 520 MW. According to Azrieli Group, the data centers market in Scandinavia in general and in Norway in particular is enjoying high rates of growth thanks to the unusual availability of electricity produced from environmentally friendly sources and to costs of electricity that are among the lowest in Europe.
Azrieli Group is Israel's largest real estate company, with a market cap of some NIS 30 billion. The company says that the acquisition of Green Mountain is part of its growth strategy, in which in recent years it has added server farms to its activities.
"The acquisition of Green Mountain is an important milestone in realizing Azrieli Group's strategy of building international activity in data centers," Danna Azrieli said. "The combination of the activity in North America through Compass and the acquisition of Green Mountain in Europe will enable Azrieli Group to become a significant player in this growing and developing arena. Data centers represent the new world of income-producing real estate, and are benefitting from high rates of growth."
Azrieli Group will finance the acquisition from its own resources, including part of the proceeds of a NIS 3.7 billion bond offering that is currently in the process of making. In addition, it will act to secure a specific loan for up to 50% of the deal price through a subsidiary in Norway or Green Mountain.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 19, 2021
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