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Equinix agreed in December 2017 to acquire Australian data-center operator Metronode for A$1.035 billion in cash—about US$792 million at the time. The transaction closed on April 18, 2018; Equinix then described the consideration as approximately US$804 million using the exchange rate at closing. The deal added 10 data centers across six Australian metro areas and brought Equinix’s national total to 15 IBX facilities.
What Equinix agreed to buy
Equinix’s agreement, signed December 15 and announced December 17, 2017, covered the entire equity interests in the Metronode group of companies, not simply leases on individual facilities. The transaction involved the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and other sellers, and included freehold and leasehold real-estate interests associated with the sites. Equinix’s filed announcement and its Form 8-K describe the agreement.
The portfolio comprised 10 data centers in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. It added two facilities in Melbourne, three in greater Sydney—including one in Illawarra—two in Perth, and one each in Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane. Equinix said the assets represented about 20,000 square meters of colocation space and more than 80,000 square meters of land, approximately 90% of which was owned.
Sydney and Melbourne were already central to Equinix’s Australian operations. The acquisition gave it a presence in four additional metros: Perth, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane. That broader geography could bring customers closer to infrastructure and create more options for regional deployments and resilience, rather than requiring every workload to be located in the two largest existing markets.
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Why Metronode mattered
The strategic case was broader than adding data-center capacity for cloud companies. More Australian locations could help enterprises, government agencies, telecom operators and IT providers place systems nearer to their users and connect to networks and cloud services. In-country facilities can also matter when customers have latency, resilience or data-location requirements. Those needs vary by workload and regulation; the acquisition announcement did not mean every Australian organization was required to use a local facility.
Equinix also highlighted Metronode’s government customer base and the campuses’ potential to support high-growth cloud providers. Hyperscale readiness was one rationale, not the whole deal: Metronode served a range of customers, while Equinix’s wider proposition included interconnection among carriers, cloud providers and enterprises. The intended opportunity was to combine the acquired locations and customer relationships with Equinix’s ecosystem and connectivity offerings.
The land was another significant part of the package. More than 80,000 square meters of associated land—with about 90% owned—gave Equinix room to consider future development while increasing its owned-property base. The announcement described the facilities as capable of supporting cloud-provider growth; that description reflects Equinix’s stated rationale, not a guarantee about subsequent demand or expansion.
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- Easy equipment configuration: Fully adjustable mounting rails and numbered U positions, with square holes for easy equipment mounting with top and bottom punchout panels for easy cable access
- Durability: Made of high quality cold rolled steel holds up to 110lb (50kg) (Easy Assembly Required)
- PCI & HIPPA and EIA/ECA-310-E compliant
Price: why the dollar figures differ
The contractual purchase price was A$1.035 billion in cash. Equinix gave an approximate U.S.-dollar equivalent of US$792 million when it announced the agreement. Its 2017 annual filing translated the consideration at the December 15 exchange rate to approximately US$791.2 million. At closing, Equinix cited approximately US$804 million. These figures refer to the Australian-dollar transaction converted at different exchange-rate dates or for different reporting purposes; they do not indicate that the announced contract was a fixed US$790 million price.
Equinix reported Metronode revenue of approximately A$60 million for the 12 months ending September 30, 2017. Dividing the A$1.035 billion announced price by that revenue gives a rough purchase-price-to-revenue ratio of about 17 times. That is a simple comparison, not an EBITDA multiple, and it does not account for debt, growth expectations, margins or other valuation factors. The company said the acquired business had a margin profile accretive to its Asia-Pacific business, but did not provide an EBITDA figure in the announcement.
Agreement was not completion
In December 2017, the transaction remained subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval. Equinix announced that it had completed the acquisition on April 18, 2018. Following the close, it said the combined Australian operation had 15 IBX data centers and called itself the country’s market leader. That ranking should be understood as Equinix’s characterization; the announcement does not supply an independent market-share comparison.
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The acquisition fit a period of expansion for Equinix that also included deals involving Verizon’s data-center portfolio, Itconic in Spain and Portugal, a Zenium facility in Istanbul, and the IO U.K. data-center business. Equinix’s 2017 results materials described Metronode as adding 10 facilities and four new Australian metros. The broader strategy was to extend geographic reach and interconnection opportunities while increasing owned real estate, rather than relying on one type of customer or one market.
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What the deal did—and did not—establish
For customers, the direct consequence was a larger Equinix footprint across Australia, with more potential locations for colocation and connections. But integration was not automatic. Acquired sites can differ in design, power arrangements, operating practices and customer contracts; Metronode also used modular construction at some facilities. Bringing those operations into a larger platform takes execution, and expected revenue synergies are not guaranteed.
The deal was therefore best understood as a combination of geographic reach, real estate, existing customers and potential interconnection density. Cloud demand helped explain the timing and opportunity, but the transaction was not simply a purchase of wholesale capacity for hyperscalers. Equinix’s December announcement set out the proposed terms, while its April 2018 closing release records the completed outcome.
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