CVC DIF Acquires Majority Stake in German Colocation Provider Firstcolo

Investment firm CVC DIF has agreed to acquire a significant majority stake in German colocation provider Firstcolo Holding GmbH from Cube Infrastructure Managers, marking one of the latest consolidation moves in Europe's tightly constrained data center market. The transaction, announced this week, will be executed through the DIF Value Add IV fund and is expected to close by the end of September 2026. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal underscores the growing investor appetite for data center platforms in the FLAPD markets—Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin—where limited supply and robust enterprise demand continue to drive valuations. Firstcolo, founded in 2007 and headquartered in Frankfurt, operates two data centers in the city that are reportedly near full utilization. Its Werkhaus facility offers 12,915 square feet (1,200 sqm) of capacity for approximately 1,000 racks, while the AOC Data Center in the Accent Office Center supports around 390 racks. The company serves more than 350 enterprise customers with colocation, dedicated cloud hardware, cloud, connectivity, and managed services.

Beyond its existing footprint, Firstcolo is developing FRA7, a 24MW data center in the Rosbach area of Frankfurt. The 124,360-square-foot (11,555 sqm) facility is scheduled to go live in early 2027 and is central to the company's expansion strategy. Willem Jansonius, managing partner at CVC DIF and co-head of the DIF Value Add strategy, said the acquisition represents a rare opportunity to invest in a founder-led colocation platform in a supply-constrained market. "The company combines a resilient, cash-generative existing business with a substantially de-risked expansion project and a differentiated service offering for enterprise customers," he said, adding that CVC DIF looks forward to working with the Firstcolo team to deliver FRA7 and support the company's development into the leading German colocation platform.

Firstcolo will continue under its founder-led management team, including CEO and co-founder Jerome Evans, COO and co-founder Nicolaj Kamensek, and CFO Dennis Bergfeld. Evans described the deal as an important new chapter for the company, noting that FRA7 is more than a single development. "It is the first building block of a scalable, high-performance infrastructure platform designed to support the next generation of AI, cloud and enterprise workloads in Germany," he said. "Together with CVC DIF, we intend to build on our strong foundation, expand our presence in the Frankfurt region and develop further high-performance data centers in attractive German markets over the coming years."

CVC DIF, formerly DIF Capital Partners and based in the Netherlands, manages approximately €18 billion ($20.9 billion) in infrastructure assets across energy transition, transport, utilities, and digitalization. The firm already owns data center companies Tonaquint in the US and Adam in Spain, along with several fiber, tower, and telecoms businesses. Earlier this year, CVC DIF, alongside Northlead and Landmark Dividend, sold a data center portfolio in the US to Igneo. The acquisition of Firstcolo adds a strategically positioned German platform to that portfolio, giving the firm a foothold in one of Europe's most active data center markets and positioning it to capture growth from both enterprise migration and AI-driven demand in the region.