In July, Smedvig, the majority owner of Green Mountain, a Norwegian company that designs, builds and operates highly secure, innovative, and sustainable colocation data centres, agreed to sell the company to Azrieli Group Ltd., an Israeli publicly traded real estate investment and development company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange for a consideration of NOK 7.6 billion.
The Azrieli Group is an entrepreneurial company which has targeted the Data Center industry as one of its main growth engines. The company has a track record of investing for the long term and of building high quality assets with a commitment of integrity to its customers, investors and shareholders. The company sees this investment opportunity of purchasing Green Mountain, with its high-quality professional management, as a way to further achieve its goals to be a leading Data Center player in the European market.
Green Mountain is positioned for growth and will be able to accelerate expansion in the Nordic market and beyond. A recent Altman Solon report estimates the Nordic market may grow from 179MW to 895 MW in 2025. "With the capital and expertise of Azrieli we are extremely well positioned to take important market shares. It has been a long process and we are very satisified with the final outcome.", says CEO of Green Mountain, Tor Kristian Gyland.
-Acquiring Green Mountain is a key milestone in realizing Azrieli Group’s strategy for building international operations in the Data Center sector, says Danna Azrieli, Chairman of Azrieli Group.
CEO of Smedvig, Odd Torland, is also pleased with the transaction: - We have built the company gradually since 2011. Now, we felt the time was right for new owners as major investments are needed, says Torland.
Aabø-Evensen has, together with Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), acted as M&A tax advisors to Azrieli Group Ltd. in connection with the transaction.
To read Green Mountain’s full press release, please click here.