Acquisition Resources

The boards of Equinix UK and IXEurope have announced that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer by EquinixUK for IXEurope, to be implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement. 

Under the terms of the acquisition, IXEurope Shareholders will receive 125 pence in cash for each IXEurope Share held at the Scheme Record Time, valuing the share capital of IXEurope, on a fully diluted basis, at approximately £240.9m. 

The acquisition represents a premium of approximately 82.1 per cent to the average Closing Price of approximately 68.7 pence per IXEurope share over the 6 month period up to and including 17 May 2007, being the last Business Day prior to IXEurope’s announcement confirming preliminary discussions regarding a possible offer for IXEurope.

The proposed price per IXEurope Share represents an appreciation of 468.2 per cent over the initial public offering price of 22.0 pence per IXEurope Share on its admission to AIM on 7 April2006. 

Commenting on the Acquisition, Peter Van Camp, Executive Chairman of Equinix, said “The strategic acquisition of IXEurope by Equinix will solidify Equinix’s position as the world’s market leading co-location provider with high-quality datacentres across the United States, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Customers are increasingly demanding global solutions as the co-location industry continues to grow at double digit rates, and IXEurope has become one of the top providers of co-location services in Europe, operating high-quality datacentres in key markets. Its integration into Equinix will continue our growth and allow us to meet the increasing expansion requirements of our global content, network and enterprise customers. We look forward to welcoming the customers and employees of IXEurope into Equinix. ” 

Commenting on the Acquisition, Sir Anthony Cleaver, Chairman of IXEurope, said “Since its launch in 1999, IXEurope’s management has successfully established 14 IXDatacentres in four countries (four IXDatacentres since its initial public offering in April 2006), providing co-location services to many blue-chip, international customers. Combining IXEurope’s European operational expertise with Equinix’s American and Asian reach will create a leading global co-location services group. The combined group will be better able to pursue the tremendous growth opportunities that exist in the co-location market worldwide.”