Vantage explores $100B IPO as four data center operators line up listings

Vantage Data Centers LLC has held early talks about an initial public offering that would value the operator at roughly $100 billion, Reuters reported today, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Two of those sources told Reuters a listing at that size would be the largest the data center industry has produced. The talks are preliminary. Vantage has met informally with financial advisers and has not launched a formal process, according to the report.

Any deal could come as soon as next year and raise about $10 billion. Selling the company outright or offloading a stake are the other options being weighed, and the report cautioned that Vantage may end up doing none of them.

Three other large operators have had listing plans reported in the past seven days, a run DataCenterDynamics rounded up this week.

Reuters reported Monday that CyrusOne LLC is lining up a potential IPO as early as 2027. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley have pitched for roles after meeting the company’s owners, that report said. One source put the raise at about $5 billion. Size and valuation have not been settled.

KKR & Co. Inc. and Global Infrastructure Partners paid roughly $15 billion, including debt, for CyrusOne in 2022. BlackRock Inc. bought the infrastructure firm two years after that. The buildout since has run on borrowed money. CyrusOne is up to more than 60 campuses across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

DayOne Data Centers Ltd. has moved further along. The Singapore-based company has confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO and could list as soon as next quarter, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. It is seeking about $5 billion at a valuation near $20 billion.

Chinese operator GDS Holdings Ltd. spun DayOne out of its international business and remains a significant minority shareholder. Bookings across the Asia Pacific region and Europe now top 1.5 gigawatts, with live markets including Malaysia, Japan and Finland. DayOne closed its Series C at $4.5 billion in June, led by Coatue Management and Hillhouse Investment.

Switch Inc. filed confidentially last Friday. DigitalBridge and IFM Investors took the Las Vegas company private for $11 billion, including debt, in 2022 and are targeting a return as early as November at a value approaching $50 billion, including debt, Bloomberg reported. Five banks are working the deal, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley among them.

Vantage runs 35 campuses on five continents. Roughly $11 billion has come in since late 2023. DigitalBridge and Silver Lake led $9.2 billion of it in one equity round. Vantage is also a partner on Lighthouse, the Stargate campus in Port Washington, Wisconsin, being built with OpenAI Group PBC and Oracle Corp. at a cost of more than $15 billion.

Public investors have not been uniformly enthusiastic. Brookfield-backed Csquare Inc. priced its July listing on the New York Stock Exchange below range, raising $1.05 billion, and the shares fell on their debut.

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