Volta Data Centres has acquired a data center in Manchester, UK, expanding its footprint outside London.

The company this week announced it has acquired the Reynolds House data center from Lunar Digital, a carrier-neutral interconnection colocation facility located in Manchester, through a ‘carve-out transaction that excludes the Lunar Digital brand.’

Terms of the deal were not shared.

The Reynolds House campus includes two Manchester facilities, to be named Volta-Man1 and Volta-Man2, with Volta-Man3 a “short distance away.”

Hosting some 25 carriers, the site has around 1.45MW of IT capacity installed today, with plans to expand to 2.5MW.

This acquisition is Volta’s first bolt-on acquisition under the ownership of Arcus European Infrastructure Fund 4, adding to the company’s existing facility in London.

“The Reynolds House campus stood out as an ideal first bolt-on acquisition for Volta under Arcus’ ownership and is a key step in building a leading UK connectivity-driven colocation platform,” said Charlie Scott, senior investment director at Arcus and asset manager of Volta Data Centres.

Volta has operated a 6MW, 91,000 sq ft (8,450 sqm) carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection facility in central London since 2013. It was previously a Reuters facility from the 1980s that the company refurbished.

Volta was acquired by infrastructure investor D9 in 2022 and merged with European colo provider Verne. The combined company was sold to investment firm Ardian in 2024 as D9 was wound down, with Volta then separately acquired by investment firm Arcus Infrastructure Partners earlier this year.

Jason Liggins, CEO of Volta, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Reynolds House Manchester into the Volta family. Until now, Volta has been a London business. Having a second home in Manchester gives our customers more choice, as well as more places to connect. To everyone at Reynolds House, customers and colleagues alike: Welcome! We’re looking forward to working with you and building on the site’s success. I’d like to thank the Lunar Digital management team for the business they have built and for their support through the transition. Our focus now is to keep delivering, and keep improving, the service every customer receives from us.”

Founded in 2022, Lunar Digital is part of the Lunar Group. The company took over operation of Reynolds House in 2023 after Equinix exited the site, signing a lease with landlord CapitaLand.

The Reynolds House facility was opened in 2006 by local firm Internet Facilitators, before the company was acquired by MSP Attenda in 2007 and then again by Telecity in July 2010; Equinix bought Telecity and took over the data center in 2015.

Lunar still lists a facility outside London in Watford, and previously operated a facility in Norway. The company recently announced a joint venture with data center provider Asanti to develop Edge infrastructure in the UK.

Robin Garbutt, CEO and co-founder of Lunar Digital, said: “Building the Reynolds House Manchester data center into an established part of the city’s connectivity ecosystem has been a significant achievement for our team. We are proud of the business we have developed and pleased to see Arcus and Volta support its next phase of growth. This transaction brings new investment and opportunities for the data centre, its customers and its people, while we retain the Lunar Digital brand.”

Arcus was advised by Ashurst Perkins Coie (Legal), WSP (Technical), Fide Partners (Commercial), BDO (Financial), BDO and Deloitte (Tax & Structuring), and Aon (Insurance and IT & Cybersecurity). Lunar Digital was advised by Pannone Corporate (Legal) and Alantra (M&A).