Equinix To Buy Telecity For GBP 2.35 Bln In Cash, Stock

(RTTNews) - Equinix Inc. (EQIX), a US based data centre services provider, Friday said it reached an agreement to acquire London-based Telecity Group plc (TCY.L), a provider of carrier-neutral data centres, in a cash and stock deal valued at approximately 1,145 pence per share or 2.35 billion pounds.

Equinix expects the deal to enable accelerated deployment of cloud service provider nodes and to further the execution of Equinix's cloud ecosystem strategy for EMEA.

As per the terms of the deal, each TelecityGroup shareholder will be entitled to receive 572.5 pence in cash and 0.0327 New Equinix Shares.

Equinix said its deal represents a premium of approximately 34.9 percent to Telecity's closing price on February 10, being the last business day before TelecityGroup announced its proposed merger with Interxion.

It also represents a premium of approximately 27.3 percent to the price on May 6, being the last business day before TelecityGroup announced that it was in discussions with Equinix.

It is intended that the transaction will be implemented by way of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement. Equinix expects the effective date to occur in the first half of 2016, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the Pre-Condition and the Conditions and certain further terms.

Further, the company said that TelecityGroup shareholders will be entitled to an interim dividend in respect of the six-month period ended June 30 2015, provided that such dividend will not exceed 5 pence per TelecityGroup Share.

This dividend will be paid only if the transaction completes after the record date for the Special Equinix Dividend to be paid or declared during or before the fourth quarter of 2015.

Following completion of the transaction, TelecityGroup Shareholders will hold approximately 10.1 percent of the combined group.

Equinix has agreed that TelecityGroup Executive Chairman John Hughes will join the Board of Equinix on completion of the deal.

John Hughes said, "The combination of Equinix and TelecityGroup services and people will ensure the expanded business leads the way in the provision of highly-connected data centre services for customers in Europe and all over the world."

Telecity, meanwhile, has terminated the merger and implementation agreement with Interxion Holding N.V. (INXN) that was entered on March 9. The proposed transaction was structured as an offer by TelecityGroup to acquire Interxion.

In London, TelecityGroup shares were trading at 1,089.00 pence, down 0.09 percent.

Equinix shares closed Thursday's trading at $269.19, down 0.30 percent.