nLighten acquires Proximity Data Centers

Amsterdam, September 5th, 2023 – nLighten, a digital infrastructure platform of I Squared Capital, a leading global infrastructure investor, has completed the acquisition of Proximity Data Centers. Proximity is a leading regional platform in the UK with ten carrier-neutral edge data centers in Birmingham, Bridgend, Bristol, Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Rugby and Swindon. RBC Capital Markets acted as financial adviser to nLighten on the transaction.“

Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions this year, nLighten has grown into a leading pan-European edge data center platform with 26 data centers, 53 megawatts of potential capacity and 130 employees,” said Mohamed El Gazzar, Senior Partner of I Squared Capital in London. “We are excited that nLighten has grown so quickly and established itself in the three largest data center markets in Europe: Germany, France and the UK.”

As a mature market with large economic regions that can benefit from more distributed data centers, the UK is a logical choice for nLighten’s expansion. Proximity’s network of high-performance data centers, strong reputation, agility, and impressive track record of entering local markets, position the company well for capturing the increasing shift to the edge across the country.

The regional distribution of Proximity’s data centers fit well within nLighten’s strategy of integrating data centers into regional markets and its high standards of sustainability align with nLighten, which aims to reduce the environmental footprints of its data centers. Proximity’s ten data centers currently source 100 percent of their electricity from renewables, and the company intends to maintain that sourcing, even at full capacity.

Given the evolving standards for data sovereignty in Europe, nLighten plans to keep the operational management of its data centers in the country and places great emphasis on their identification with the UK market.“

The acquisition of Proximity brings us a big step closer to our goal of creating the leading pan-European edge data center platform,” says Harro Beusker, co-founder and CEO of nLighten. “Proximity’s edge data centers are a great fit for our portfolio, and the existing management team, staff and assets lay a solid foundation for our ambitions in the UK.”

“Being part of the nLighten group of data centers will accelerate the expansion of our portfolio of new products and services tailored for the edge computing market,” commented John Hall, Managing Director Colocation at Proximity. “We will also be able to provide a highly comprehensive solution to customers looking for a broad network of data centers across multiple European locations.”