The private equity fund and operator group are in ‘exclusive discussions’ to form partnership to convert OpCore into data centre platform
France’s Iliad Group and private equity firm InfraVia are in exclusive discussions to form a partnership about turning OpCore into a major European hyperscale data centre platform. OpCore has a 20-year history of operating data centres to meet the needs of the Iliad Group, hyperscalers, techcos and large corporations. It has data centres in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Poland.
OpCore apparently “is recognized for pioneering new technologies in the data center industry, driving continuous improvements in efficiency and sustainability. The company maintains its innovative DNA developing high-quality projects and seeks to establish itself as a frontrunner in the emerging wave of AI use cases, as demand for large-scale direct liquid cooling deployments arises in the market.”
Thomas Reynaud, CEO of the iliad Group (pictured), said, “The iliad Group’s ambition is Europe-wide. Together with our partner InfraVia, we plan to invest more than €2.5 billion into making OpCore the leading independent data center platform in Europe.”
As part of the proposed transaction, InfraVia would acquire a 50% equity stake in OpCore through its infrastructure funds. OpCore has an enterprise value of €860 million.
Pure-play opportunity
The new concern would regroup Iliad’s data centres in France and Poland, positioning the new entity as a pure-play data centre provider, that is, by charging fees to pretty much anybody that wanted to use them. The plan is to cash in the booming market in Europe for hyperscale data centres to run cloud and AI, which according to Iliad are expanding at a rate of more than 20% annually.
The proposed partnership is intended to give OpCore the “right financial structure” with dedicated financing that will cover up to 75% of the required investment in OpCore with bank debt. It would enable OpCore to scale to more than 130 MW by developing a data centre in the Paris region of about 100MW, and then to multiple hundreds of megawatts in Europe.
The plan is that OpCore and the Iliad Group remain close partners, working together rapidly to expand Scaleway, iliad Group’s cloud subsidiary, and OpCore itself. Scaleway will retain its status as a privileged client of OpCore. “As Europe’s leading AI cloud player”, according to the press release, will help position OpCore “at the forefront of the next-generation AI data center landscape.
“This ambitious partnership is one more initiative from the iliad Group and InfraVia towards building a truly European digital ecosystem for the benefit of innovative businesses across our region.”
The deal is subject to prior consultation with the employees’ representative bodies. It is expected to close in the first half of 2025 once “the customary conditions precedents and the relevant regulatory clearances have been obtained”.
Unprecedented growth
Vincent Levita, founder and CEO of InfraVia, commented, “We are extremely pleased to expand our partnership with iliad through our investment in OpCore. This transaction draws on all our experience in hyperscale data center development…and [will] contribute to shaping a major hyperscale data center operator in Europe.”
Arnaud de Bermingham, CEO of OpCore, added, “We are seeing unprecedented growth in the capacity demands expressed by hyperscaler and AI customers. Our experience, track-record and unique technologies are key assets in a radically changing datacenter industry.
“As a cofounder of OpCore leading the Company for 20 years, I am very proud of the milestones and value creation achieved with the team and I am excited about the huge opportunities ahead. I am convinced that iliad and InfraVia are the perfect shareholders to support OpCore on our ambitious growth plans.”