Khazna welcomes MGX & Silverlake as e& makes $2.2 billion exit
MGX and Silver Lake join as minority investors in Khazna Data Centers
#UAE #datacentres - Khazna Data Centers, one of the Middle East’s largest wholesale data centre providers, welcomes MGX and Silver Lake as minority investors, as telecoms group e& exits after signing a binding agreement with G42 to sell its 40 percent stake for $2.2 billion (AED 8b). According to e& the sale nets the group a capital gain of USD 1.4 billion (AED 5.1b) before federal royalty and corporate tax. The transaction is set to close by the end of Q1 2025 and the financial impact of the transaction on the books of e& will be reflected in financials in the first half of 2025.
While exiting its stake, e& will continue as a major tenant and strategic partner, focusing on AI-grade connectivity solutions.
SO WHAT? - This deal signals a major shift in the UAE’s technology and AI ecosystem, with G42 taking a commanding position in wholesale data centre services, while e& focuses on its own multicloud services offering. The telecom provider has a variety of partnerships with global cloud technology vendors such as AWS, Cisco, Microsoft, and Oracle. e& has selected Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Dedicated Region as one of its key platforms. It has also implemented Microsoft’s a next-generation, carrier-grade, hybrid cloud platform Azure Operator Nexus.
Key highlights from today’s announcements:
UAE telecom giant e& has agreed to sell its 40% stake in Khazna Data Centers, the UAE’s largest wholesale data centre provider, for $2.2 billion via a binding agreement signed with majority shareholder G42. The sale will generate a capital gain of $1.4 billion for e& (before fees and taxes). The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2025.
Meanwhile, Khazna Data Centers has secured MGX and Silver Lake as minority investors. G42’s chairman His Highness Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is also chairman of MGX, while G42 Group CEO Peng Xiao is a board member. Silver Lake is a shareholder in G42 Group.
e& will remain a strategic partner and major tenant of Khazna, continuing its collaboration on AI and data infrastructure.
The UAE is investing heavily in AI and cloud infrastructure both at home and as part of bilateral agreements with partner nations.
Formed in 2022 through a merger of G42 and e& data centers, Khazna currently operates a 360 MW data centre network with a capacity of 360 megawatts (MW).
G42 Group has recently become the main contractor in deals to build data centres across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East including France, Egypt, Kenya and India.
ZOOM OUT - e& merged its data centre portfolio with G42’s data centre business in 2022, in exchange for a 40 percent stake in Khazna Data Centers, an existing data centre operator which was acquired for the purpose. The formation of the joint venture creating the Middle East’s largest data center provider with a total of 12 data centres at the time. 13 data centres were under construction, and a further three in the planning stage, all adding up to a total of over 300 megawatt (MW) planned capacity by the end of 2023 across its sites in the UAE. The company now operates 24 sites, with about 360 MW of current capacity. In October, Khazna Data Centers announced that it would develop the UAE’s largest data centre in Ajman with a capacity of 100 MW, set for completion in 3Q of 2025,