3i, an international leader in private equity, and funds managed by 3i, today announce they have sold their remaining 16.5% stake in Telecity Group, Europe’s industry leading provider of premium network independent data centres, at a price of 345p, realising proceeds of £111m.

Proceeds since the 2007 IPO total £153m, representing a five-fold return on the 2005 vintage investment.

In December 2005, in line with 3i’s strategy for the business, Telecity acquired a key UK competitor, Redbus plc, and installed the Redbus management team to lead the newly enlarged group.  The add-on acquisition of the UK data centre assets of Globix followed shortly thereafter. The newly structured group experienced a significant growth in turnover, rapidly leading to a dramatically improved financial performance, which culminated in a highly successful £436m IPO in October 2007. 

Since the IPO, the business has achieved strong growth in both turnover and earnings. The business has made a substantial investment in capacity across its European markets to enable future growth, most recently opening new data centres in Paris, Stockholm and Milan and adding incremental capacity in London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.  In addition, the business has implemented a range of projects to reduce its impact on the environment and enhance its energy efficiency.

3i commented “We are very pleased to have supported Telecity Group’s development and expansion. The company has delivered strong investment returns for us, as well as for its public investors since its IPO in 2007. We are confident that Telecity and its management will continue with their great success going forward.”