NTT Communications acquires majority stake in e-shelter

NTT Communications Corporation, e-shelter and ABRY Partners, a private equity investment firm, have jointly announced that NTT Com will acquire 86.7% of e-shelter’s issued shares. The acquisition will vault the NTT Com group into the no. 3 position for data center space in Europe.

e-shelter is currently managing nearly 90,000 square meters of data center space in four major cities in Germany, as well as Zurich, Switzerland and Vienna, Austria. One of its main facilities, Campus Frankfurt 1, Europe’s largest data center with some 60,000 square meters of data center space, comprises five free-standing buildings constructed specifically as data centers.

The acquisition will further strengthen NTT Com’s EU capabilities to meet increased demand for data center and cloud services, as well as provide increasingly efficient services to migrate customer systems to the cloud. The EU data center market is growing at 9% per year, according to the research firm Gartner, Inc.

NTT Com currently operates data centers in the UK, France, Germany and Spain which e-shelter’s six locations in central Europe will complement perfectly.

NTT Com President and CEO Akira Arima said: "e-shelter is a growing company offering high-quality, highly extensible data center capabilities. We have been impressed by their ability, under the strong leadership of CEO Rupprecht Rittweger, to maintain their position as a leading data center operator not only in Germany, but the competitive EU market as a whole. We look forward to expanding our share of the EU’s overall ICT market in partnership with this potent company. Globally, NTT Com supports many of the world’s best-known corporations with top-quality services from data centers located in global economic centers. We will continue to invest in data centers to help our clients secure their data."

As a new member of the NTT Com group, e-shelter will benefit from access to NTT Com’s world-class global data center, cloud and network service infrastructure. The company will also enjoy enhanced financing capabilities for accelerated capital investment in the continental EU region, where it aims to fulfill the diverse ICT needs of its large customers.

According to e-shelter CEO Rupprecht Rittweger: "As our multinational customers expand beyond EU borders, and undergo rapid ICT evolutions, they are increasingly demanding globally seamless ICT solutions. To meet their demands ahead of our competitors, we believe that the best way to ensure e-shelter’s growth and development is in partnership with NTT Com, which has a commanding presence in Asia and is a leading provider of ICT services worldwide. At the same time, we look forward to strengthening NTT Com’s global ICT infrastructure and market share with our strong presence in Europe."

Customers of e-shelter data center services include major multinational enterprises in fields including finance, communication networks, ICT services, government, healthcare and digital media. e-shelter operates a comprehensive range of data center infrastructure and services, including land and buildings as well as facilities and collocations services, enabling it to respond flexibly to growing demand and changing customer requirements. The company’s infrastructure includes its own 120 MW electrical substation for stable, energy-efficient power supply.

Following the acquisition, significant minority stake will be retained by Investa Holding GmbH, a German real estate developer in which e-shelter founder and CEO Rupprecht Rittweger owns a controlling interest. Currently, Investa owns 51% of e-shelter’s issued shares and the remaining shares are owned by ABRY Partners, one of the most experienced and successful media, communications and business-information services focused private equity investment firms, and other minority shareholders. NTT Com will provide more than half of e-shelter’s new board of directors.

NTT Com operates more than 130 secure data centers worldwide. In addition, NTT Com provides a wide range of globally standardized services, including platforms for hosting, network and security services. Nexcenter services support and enhance the quality of customer ICT systems, offer customer-tailored options and solutions, and help to minimize ICT management costs and improve customer ROI.