Top asset manager cleared to buy large data centre company in South Africa
The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved the merger in which STANLIB Infrastructure Fund II will acquire a substantial stake in Cassava Africa Data Centres.
Following the transaction, STANLIB will exercise joint control over Cassava ADC, with the possibility of acquiring sole control.
The Tribunal’s approval comes shortly after the Competition Commission recommended that the acquisition proceed without conditions.
“The Commission is of the view that the proposed transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market,” the Competition Commission stated.
“The proposed transaction does not raise significant public interest concerns.”
Africa Data Centres (ADC) currently operates seven data centre facilities across Africa, serving more than 400 enterprise and hyperscale customers.
The jewel in its crown is its Samrand Data Centre in Johannesburg, which is widely seen as the top data centre in Africa.
The Samrand Data Centre was constructed by Standard Bank, which controls Stanlib Asset Management, in 2010 for R1.6 billion to serve as its primary data facility.
The Tier 4 data centre features its own electricity sub-station and fully redundant terrestrial, wireless, and satellite connectivity.
The Johannesburg facility has been purpose-built to offer maximum levels of security and reliability, a requirement for demanding financial services organisations.
It is also unique in its configuration, featuring complete redundancy across all power and cooling.
It was the most advanced data centre in South Africa, but the costs associated with the facility put pressure on Standard Bank.
The 27,000-square-meter facility, situated on a 65,000-square-meter site, cost around R1 million per month in maintenance.
Within a few years of building the Samrand Data Centre, Standard Bank tried to sell it for around R2 billion. This high price tag scared most interested parties.
In 2020, Africa Data Centres struck a deal to acquire the world-class data centre from Standard Bank.
At the time, Africa Data Centres said the deal would prove highly disruptive to the South African data centre and colocation market.
It consolidated Africa Data Centres’ position as the largest pan-African provider of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centres.
Former chief executive Stéphane Duproz explained that the facility redefined the data centre experience for regional, continental, and global customers.
“The acquisition marks a significant extension to Africa Data Centres’ pan-Africa network of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centres,” he said.
“It cements our continent-leading position and will further accelerate Africa’s digital transformation.”
Strategic partnership
News that Stanlib is acquiring Cassava ADC comes after the companies announced that they were entering into a strategic partnership in October last year.
Stanlib announced a strategic investment in Africa Data Centres to accelerate the rapid expansion of its footprint in South Africa.
It said the strategic partnership will enable Africa Data Centres to meet the growing demand for digital infrastructure in the country.
Stanlib also said the investment will drive the expansion and development of AI-ready data centres at Africa Data Centres’ campuses in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Hardy Pemhiwa, President and Group CEO of Cassava Technologies, said at the time that the partnership would strengthen the company’s South African operations.
“It provides us the scale to serve major hyperscalers and enterprises as they rapidly increase their demand for high-capacity connectivity and cloud services,” he said.
Sister company in deep trouble
The sale of Cassava ADC comes amid turbulent times for sister company Liquid Telecoms, which Moody’s Investors Service recently downgraded from Caa1 to Caa2.
On the Moody’s rating scale, Caa is deep in sub-investment-grade territory and is classified as poor quality and very high credit risk.
The agency said its rating took into account Liquid’s strong market position as the largest pan-African fibre network covering more than 20 countries across central, Eastern and Southern Africa.
It also factored in Liquid’s exposure to supportive industry dynamics, given the growing demand for carrier and enterprise broadband services across Africa.
Additionally, Moody’s said its rating considers Liquid’s long-standing contractual relationships with a blue-chip customer base with moderate customer concentration and low customer churn.
Despite this, Liquid’s outstanding debts continue to be a concern. As of August 2025, Liquid had $131 million (R2.27 billion) outstanding under a rand-denominated term loan due in February 2026.
Alongside this is a $620 million (R10.7 billion) bond maturing in September 2026. Moody’s said that although plans were underway to resolve the situation, significant execution risks remained.
Moody’s noted that part of the plan was for the Cassava group to raise $100 million from asset sales outside the Liquid Telecom bond perimeter and to inject it into the company.
“We are aware of Moody’s revised rating on the company’s bond due September 2026. We cannot comment on the merits of their decision,” a Liquid spokesperson previously told MyBroadband.
“Our debt refinancing plans are progressing well with the significant milestones that we have recently announced to the market. We will communicate to the market as we complete the rest of our refinancing plan.”
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