Antin Infrastructure Partners has acquired Dutch data center firm NorthC.

The company this week announced it has agreed to acquire NorthC Datacenters from DWS and other minority shareholders.

Terms of the deal were not shared. The transaction is being carried out through Antin’s €10.2 billion Flagship Fund V and is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Stéphane Ifker and Maximilian Lindner, managing partner and partner at Antin Infrastructure Partners, respectively, said: “We have a strong conviction on the growth potential for colocation data centers, and NorthC is the leading operator in this space in Europe.

“NorthC is well positioned to accelerate its expansion and consolidate its leadership in a fast-growing and increasingly strategic segment of the digital infrastructure market. We look forward to supporting Alexandra and the team to achieve the next phase of NorthC’s growth.”

NorthC was formed in 2019 from the merger of Dutch data center firms TDCG and NLDC, originally a subsidiary of Dutch telecoms company KPN.

In recent years, it has begun expanding to other European countries, buying Netrics in Switzerland and the IP Exchange in Germany. It recently acquired a number of facilities across the Netherlands and Germany from Colt Technology Services.

The company currently has more than a dozen data centers across the Netherlands, eight in Germany, and four in Switzerland, with more in development in all three markets.

The company serves more than 1,600 blue-chip customers across cloud and IT service providers, carriers, public sector and financial institutions, industry, transport and the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.

Harold D’Hauteville, partner of DWS Infrastructure, added: “We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to create and grow NorthC with its incredible management team over the past six years. NorthC’s consistent focus on providing high quality colocation services to its clients across the Benelux and DACH region has established the business as a regional leader.

“We see strong growth potential in the enterprise colocation sector, as essential infrastructure required to enable the digital transformation and AI. We have no doubt that the management will continue to scale the business to reach new heights under its new ownership in the years to come.”

News that DWS was seeking a buyer for NorthC surfaced in October, with Antin reportedly going up against EQT. Press reported at the time that NorthC could be valued at up to €2 billion ($2.34bn).

Antin Infrastructure Partners is a private equity firm focused on infrastructure, with more than €33 billion ($38.66bn) in assets under management. Antin previously acquired UK data center firm Pulsant, while the company also has investments in fiber firms such as CityFibre in the UK, Lyntia in Spain, Eurofiber in the Netherlands and Belgium, and FirstLight Fiber in the US. The company was recently named as a potential buyer of EQT-owned GlobalConnect, a nordic fiber broadband and data center firm.

Alexandra Schless, CEO of NorthC, said: “We are grateful to DWS for its support over the past years, and are delighted to work alongside Antin to continue taking the company forward. Antin’s direct experience of colocation data centers and knowledge of the enterprise end-customer market will be strong assets to help us seize the many growth opportunities that lie ahead.”

Founded in 1956 and formerly known as Deutsche Asset Management, DWS is a German asset management company. It previously operated as part of Deutsche Bank until 2018, when it was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Deutsche Bank retains a majority stake in the firm. DWS recently formed a new UK-based data center firm, Stellanor, from Colt and Redcentric assets.

NorthC was advised by Evercore and Torch Partners as financial advisers and Latham & Watkins as legal adviser. Antin was advised by Guggenheim Securities as financial adviser and Clifford Chance and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as legal advisers.