GI Partners, a trans-Atlantic private equity firm announced today that it has sold its last remaining Fund 1 property , a data center in Frankfurt for $28 million (approx. 19.2 mln.) to Equinix (Holding) BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Equinix Inc (NASDAQ listed). Acquired in June 2004, the data center comprises of 310,000 gross ft² (28,700 m²) and 96,000 net ft² of raised floor space.
This transaction represents the final sale of the 25 technology buildings acquired by GI Partners in its debut fund. With this sale, the Fund will have realized over $1.0 billion in cash proceeds from these buildings on an initial equity investment of $280 million. This represents a 3.7x multiple to invested capital and a 60% gross IRR. GI Partners contributed 21 of these properties to the formation of Digital Realty Trust, now a NYSE-listed REIT with an enterprise value of approximately $6 billion. Other GI Partners Fund I properties previously sold include Sunset Gower Studios, located in Hollywood, CA, and Yates Group, a pub operator with locations throughout UK.
GI Partners is currently investing out of its recently raised GI Partners Fund III L.P., which has secured $2.0 billion of capital commitments from leading institutional private equity and real estate investors. Its most recent investment is a $116 million joint venture with Macerich (NYSE listed) in Macerich's FlatIron Crossing Mall in Broomfield, Colorado.
Rick Magnuson, Executive Managing Director of GI Partners, said "We are delighted to be announcing the sale of the Frankfurt Data Centre. The return we have delivered to date from our Fund I is well in excess of the market average and demonstrates the success of our investment strategy".
"As we embark on Fund III we are well positioned to leverage the success we've achieved from both our Fund I and Fund II investments. We are off to a great start in Fund III with approximately 20% of the committed capital already invested and have a strong pipeline of opportunities."
Source: Citigate
