TierPoint Buys Windstream for $575M
Years after acquiring Hosted Solutions, Windstream is divesting its data center business. Five years ago, Arkansas-based Windstream Technologies (NYSE: WIN) bulked up its data center operations with the $310 million buy of Raleigh-based Hosted Solutions. A TierPoint facility in Dallas.
This week, it disclosed it is selling those data center assets – part of a restructuring that involves its entire data center business. The plan, according to the company, is to sell its data center segment to St. Louis-based cloud and managed service provider TierPoint for $575 million in cash.
Windstream will partner with TierPoint so that both companies can sell products and services to one another, with Windstream focusing more of its capital energy on its telecom offerings.
Windstream’s Partnership
According to Tony Thomas, president and CEO of Windstream, the partnership will allow data center services to “remain an integral component of our enterprise service offering.” “We expect the divested data center business to continue its significant growth under the leadership of TierPoint, and we look forward to partnering closely with them to provide advanced data center services to our enterprise customers,” he says via prepared statement.
While no specifics were given regarding the local headcount, Jerry Kent, chairman and CEO of TierPoint, said his company values Windstream employees “as a key asset in the acquisition.” “Their expertise adds to our strength and focus on providing a superior level of customer care,” he says via prepared statement.
The deal gives TierPoint access to five new markets, including both Raleigh and Charlotte, and involves 14 facilities and about 179,000-square-feet of data center space. In North Carolina, four data centers in Raleigh and three in Charlotte are included in the deal. At close, TierPoint will own and operate 28 data centers in 19 markets, comprising nearly 500,000-square feet of data center space. Both company boards have approved the deal, which is expected to close in the next two to four months.
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2015/10/five-years-after-hosted-buy-windstream-sells-data.html