Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and institutional partners completed their purchase of substantially all of bankrupt Cyxtera Technologies’ assets on January 12, 2024. The transaction was announced on November 1, 2023, at a stated price of $775 million, subject to adjustments. It was a court-supervised asset sale—not a simple purchase of seven buildings—and included Cyxtera’s North American retail-colocation operating business, selected real-estate interests, lease arrangements and specified liabilities.
What Brookfield agreed to buy
Cyxtera and certain subsidiaries entered an Asset Purchase Agreement with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and institutional partners while operating under Chapter 11. The agreement covered substantially all of Cyxtera’s assets and certain assumed liabilities, with bankruptcy-court approval required before closing. Cyxtera filed for Chapter 11 in June 2023 while pursuing financing and restructuring alternatives, so the transaction was a distressed-company asset sale rather than an acquisition of Cyxtera’s public-company equity.
The announcement said the package included the real estate underlying seven existing U.S. Cyxtera data centers. That wording matters: Brookfield did not simply acquire every facility Cyxtera occupied as a fully owned, debt-free building. The perimeter combined operating assets, customer and facility contracts, property interests, leases and negotiated changes to landlord relationships.
Cyxtera’s announcement described the expected closing as the first quarter of 2024. Brookfield subsequently reported that the acquisition closed on January 12, 2024. (Cyxtera’s SEC-filed announcement; Brookfield’s Q1 2024 filing.)
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Why the $775 million headline does not describe the whole economics
Several figures appear in the parties’ disclosures because they refer to different transaction perimeters or accounting presentations. They should not be treated as competing claims about one identical payment.
| Figure | What it represents | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| $775 million | Announced consideration under Cyxtera’s Asset Purchase Agreement, subject to adjustments | Cyxtera’s November 1, 2023 SEC-filed announcement |
| Approximately $800 million | Brookfield’s reported accounting purchase price for the completed Cyxtera acquisition | Brookfield Q1 2024 filing; accounting presentation after closing |
| Approximately $1.3 billion | Brookfield’s broader description of the data-center and associated-real-estate transaction | Inclusive of transaction costs and net of proceeds from selling noncore Cyxtera sites to a third party |
| Approximately $271 million | Digital Realty’s reported proceeds from selling its interests in four data centers to Brookfield | Digital Realty’s later SEC filing; its November announcement used approximately $275 million |
Brookfield’s broader approximately $1.3 billion description therefore should not be presented as money paid directly to Cyxtera under the $775 million APA. Likewise, the approximately $271 million to $275 million Digital Realty component was a separate landlord-property transaction within the wider restructuring.
How Digital Realty and Digital Core REIT fit into the deal
Digital Realty was both a landlord and a property owner connected to Cyxtera’s portfolio. In its November 2023 announcement, it said Brookfield would acquire its interests in four data centers for approximately $275 million and that the arrangement also involved Digital Core REIT. Digital Realty later reported that the January 2024 sale closed for approximately $271 million.
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Property interests transferred
Two of the four data centers were consolidated by Digital Realty, while two were owned by Digital Core REIT. This means the property component was not a single block of identical assets held by one owner.
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Lease buyouts and assumptions
Digital Realty bought out Cyxtera leases at three data centers in Singapore and Frankfurt for approximately $57 million. Brookfield assumed leases on three facilities previously leased to Cyxtera.
Additional lease amendments
Digital Realty also amended leases at three other North American data centers, accelerating their expiration to September 2024. These arrangements show why the transaction was simultaneously an operating-business purchase, a property transfer and a landlord-tenant restructuring. (Digital Realty’s announcement; Digital Realty’s 2024 SEC filing.)
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What happened to facilities outside Brookfield’s core package?
Canada was sold separately
Cyxtera separately agreed to sell its Montreal and Vancouver data-center business to Cologix. Those operations should not be counted as part of Brookfield’s seven-property U.S. real-estate component.
Other noncore sites and exits
Cyxtera agreed with Digital Realty to amend leases at three U.S. and three international sites, allowing exits during 2024. Brookfield also described selling noncore Cyxtera sites to a third party. Because disclosures use different definitions—operating locations, owned properties, leased facilities and sites retained after divestitures—there is no single, reliable “Brookfield bought X locations worldwide” count that replaces the transaction description above.
Why Brookfield pursued the assets
Brookfield had been building a digital-infrastructure platform that included Evoque, Data4 and Compass Datacenters. Its stated rationale for the Cyxtera transaction was to increase ownership or control of underlying facilities, improve the cost structure, create more expansion flexibility and capture potential real-estate and lease savings.
Brookfield said the property acquisitions, negotiated lease savings and other financial synergies were expected to produce a step-change improvement in cash flow for the combined business. Those were management expectations, not an independently verified post-closing result. (Brookfield’s Q3 2023 investor letter.)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Closing structure and the Evoque combination
Brookfield’s Q1 2024 filing characterized the acquired business as a North American retail-colocation data-center operation purchased out of bankruptcy. Brookfield Infrastructure held an effective 29% interest through its existing investment in that operation; this does not mean Brookfield Infrastructure directly owned 100% of every acquired company or property.
On January 16, 2024, Brookfield-backed Evoque Data Center Solutions announced that it had closed the Cyxtera acquisition and combined the businesses. Evoque said the combined organization had more than 50 locations, predominantly in North America. That figure describes the post-combination operating platform, not seven wholly owned buildings. (Evoque’s closing announcement.)
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What the transaction meant for customers and employees
Cyxtera and Brookfield emphasized continuity for customers, partners and employees and presented the restructuring as a way to create a more financially stable platform with greater facility ownership and cost control. Evoque later highlighted broader market reach, product breadth, connectivity, security and scalability.
The public announcements do not provide a customer-by-customer schedule of contract transfers, service-level changes or pricing. The legally established facts are the asset-sale closing and the operating combination; specific customer outcomes were not disclosed at that level of detail.
Why a bankrupt operator’s data centers remained valuable
A Chapter 11 filing does not automatically make an operating platform worthless. A colocation business can retain customer contracts, network connectivity, trained staff, operating systems and strategically located capacity even when its capital structure is unsustainable. A bankruptcy sale can transfer those productive assets to a better-capitalized owner while allowing landlords to sell property interests, buy out uneconomic leases or reset lease terms.
That pattern explains the mixed structure here: Brookfield obtained an operating platform and selected property interests; Digital Realty and Digital Core REIT resolved ownership and lease issues; Cologix acquired the Canadian business; and noncore sites were separated from the continuing platform.
Bottom line
Brookfield’s Cyxtera transaction was a completed, court-supervised acquisition of a distressed data-center operating business and related real-estate interests. The $775 million figure was the announced APA consideration, not a standalone price for seven buildings and not the full economic perimeter. The later disclosures—approximately $800 million in Brookfield’s accounting, approximately $1.3 billion for Brookfield’s broader transaction description, and Digital Realty’s approximately $271 million property sale—make sense only when the operating assets, property ownership, leases, divestitures and post-closing Evoque combination are considered together.
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