Digital Realty, the world’s largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, and Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund announced the formation of a joint venture to acquire Medallion Data Centres, Nigeria’s leading colocation and interconnection provider.
According to a press release from the colocation and interconnection solutions provider, Medallion operates two data centers, one in Lagos, the most populous urban metropolitan area in Africa with approximately 15 million people, and one in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
Medallion’s Lagos data center is the leading connectivity hub in Western Africa with over 70 carriers and internet service providers, over 80% of the public peering traffic on the Nigerian Internet Exchange, and a peering point for all subsea cables currently operating in Nigeria with plans to serve as a peering point for the nine new subsea cables scheduled to be in operation in Lagos by 2023.
With a population of over 200 million, Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and the seventh most populous in the world. Its GDP is the largest in Africa and was the 26th largest globally in 2019. With a large and young population, a growing and diversifying the economy as well as a maturing regulatory environment, Nigeria has experienced strong economic growth in recent years.
As part of the transaction, the joint venture is also acquiring a land parcel adjacent to the Lagos data center to provide near-term expansion capacity. Medallion’s management team, led by CEO and co-founder Ike Nnamani, will continue to lead the business.
A. William Stein, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Realty said: “Over the next decade, there will be a huge opportunity for global businesses to tap into Africa’s expanding internet economy – with predictions that it could reach 5.2% of the continent’s GDP by 2025, contributing nearly $180 billion to its economy (up from $115 billion in 2020). By 2050, the internet economy has the potential to contribute $712 billion1. Through major investment in the continent’s internet infrastructure, Digital Realty aims to be a core enabler of these economic and quality of life gains.”
