Blackstone has agreed terms to acquire Kansas-headquartered QTS Realty, a datacentre specialist with a portfolio of assets in the US and Europe.
A number of Blackstone's long-term perpetual capital vehicles, including Blackstone Infrastructure Partners and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, will acquire all outstanding shares of QTS' common stock for $78.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction worth $10 bn (€8.2 bn), including the assumption of debt.
The purchase price represents a premium of 21% to QTS' closing share price as of 4 June 2021 and a 24% premium to the volume weighted average share price over the last 90 days.
Greg Blank, senior managing director, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, said: 'We are delighted to back QTS and its world-class management team as they continue to scale the company to meet the rising demand for data centres.
'QTS aligns with one of Blackstone's highest conviction themes – data proliferation – and the required investment makes it well suited as a long-term holding for our perpetual capital vehicles.
'We are committed to a strong, lasting partnership, leveraging Blackstone's scale, reach, resources and access to capital to drive long-term growth at QTS.'
Unanimously approved
The transaction was unanimously approved by the QTS board of directors and is expected to close in the second half of 2021. The definitive merger agreement includes a 40-day 'go-shop' period that will expire on 17 July.
Upon completion of the transaction, the parties expect that QTS will continue to be led by its senior management team and maintain its corporate headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas.
While the majority of QTS' assets are in the US, the firm acquired two datacentres in the Netherlands in 2019. The two assets are located in the cities of Groningen and Eemshaven, northeast of Amsterdam. The firm said at the time that it planned to pursue further European market penetration.
Philip Trahanas, lead director of the QTS board of directors said: 'We are pleased to enter into this transaction with Blackstone, as it will deliver compelling, immediate and certain value to stockholders while positioning QTS to continue supporting customers.'
Chad Williams, chairman and CEO of QTS, added: 'We see a significant market opportunity for growth as hyperscale customers and enterprises continue to leverage our world-class infrastructure to support their digital transformation initiatives.
'We are confident this transaction is the right step to achieve our strategic objectives in our next phase of growth. I want to thank each of our QTS employees for their continued dedication to a culture of service to others, which has positioned QTS to enter into this transformative transaction.'
Concluded Tyler Henritze, head of acquisitions Americas for Blackstone Real Estate: 'We are focused on investing in assets that are benefitting from strong, secular tailwinds, such as the rapid digitalisation of data.
'QTS is a leading provider of data center solutions with a portfolio of high-quality assets in desirable markets, positioning it well to capitalise on these powerful trends in the data center space. We believe the vast expertise across our business will enable the QTS platform to succeed over the long-term.'
