WASHINGTON — District-based DuPont Fabros, one of the biggest owners of internet data centers, will be acquired by San Francisco-based Digital Realty in a deal worth $7.6 billion.
DuPont Fabros operates data farms throughout Northern Virginia, as well as in Chicago and California.
Under the terms of the all-stock acquisition, DuPont Fabros shareholders will receive 0.545 Digital Realty shares for each DuPont Fabros share they own. The acquisition still requires shareholder approval.
The combined company will operate 145 data centers in 33 metro centers around the world.
DuPont Fabros has 12 fully leased data centers in operation, and another six under construction, including projects in Ashburn, Virginia, that are 48 percent pre-leased. DuPont Fabros also has land holdings in Oregon and Phoenix.
The combined company will be the most profitable publicly-traded data center operator in the country, the companies said.
The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2017, the companies said.
News of the merger sent DuPont Fabros stock up 14 percent in Friday trading. Its stock (NYSE DFT) has gained 42 percent this year and trades at around $62.50 per share.
