Great Hill Partners Successfully Exits Data-Center Company Ascenty in $1.8 Billion-Plus Cross-Border Transaction

Choate represented Great Hill Partners, a leading growth-oriented private equity firm, in its definitive cross-border agreement to sell its controlling interest in portfolio company Ascenty, LLC, the largest provider of data center and fiber infrastructure services in Brazil, to Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR). The transaction values the company at over $1.8 billion.

Ascenty is the largest data center provider in Brazil, with 14 data centers. The company was founded in 2010 and has focused on building world-class data centers while serving some of the largest global technology companies. Ascenty’s data center and fiber network expertise, as well as its dedicated focus on client service, have helped the company become the provider of choice for hyperscale cloud companies and multinational corporations seeking comprehensive data center solutions in the region.

The deal caps a series of significant telecommunications and data infrastructure transactions closed by Choate’s private equity group across Latin America during the past year.

The Choate team was co-led by private equity partner Steve Meredith and counsel Dan Riley, and included private equity partner Rees Hawkins and associates Peter Alvarez, Larissa Cespedes-Yaffar, and Alex Bossone; tax partner Louis Marett and associates John Chambers and Kevin Sarro; finance partner Stephen Tonkovich; labor and employment partner Alison Reif; real estate partner Adam Zaiger; and wealth management counsel Renat Lumpau.