Investment Firm To Acquire Cogeco Peer 1, Which Will Operate As Independent Managed Cloud Services Provider

Cogeco Peer 1, a co-location, network connectivity and managed services provider, is being acquired by global investment firm Digital Colony. The sale will help transform Cogeco Peer 1 into a stand-alone hybrid networking and cloud service business, the provider said.Cogeco Peer 1 is the cloud subsidiary of Cogeco Communications, which inked the deal to sell its cloud business to the investment firm for $720 million. Via the terms of the deal, Cogeco Peer 1 will have a fiber division and a data center division and will operate under a different name, the two companies said Wednesday. Toronto-based Cogeco Peer 1 has more than 3,300 route kilometers, or 2,050 miles, of metro fiber in the greater Toronto and Montreal areas. The company also owns and operates 16 data centers across North America and Europe, and has more than 50 points of presence throughout North America and Europe. After the deal is closed and Cogeco Peer 1 is operating independently, the provider's fiber division will be Canada’s first independent, neutral-host provider of small cell and 5G infrastructure and enterprise and wholesale fiber connectivity, according to the company. Cogeco Peer 1’s data center division will be focused on providing multi-cloud services for enterprise customers, as well as growing its dominance in the hybrid cloud and managed services space.