CVC DIF buys majority stake in Frankfurt data center operator firstcolo

CVC DIF has agreed to buy a significant majority stake in firstcolo, a Frankfurt-region data center operator, from CUBE Infrastructure. The buyer is DIF Value-Add IV, and the deal is expected to close by the end of September, according to a release carried by PR Newswire. Financial terms were not disclosed.

firstcolo was founded in 2007 and runs two data centers in the Frankfurt metropolitan area, serving more than 350 customers with colocation, cloud, connectivity, and managed services. Frankfurt is a central European hub for digital infrastructure.

The acquisition gives CVC DIF an operating business with existing customers and a construction pipeline. The two current data centers provide immediate revenue while FRA7, a new site north of Frankfurt, ramps up.

FRA7, in Rosbach vor der Höhe, will bring 24 MW of total capacity. Its IT load comes to 16 MW. Liquid-cooled racks support up to 200 kW each, aimed at AI training, high-performance computing, and cloud workloads. firstcolo targets a power usage effectiveness below 1.2. Regional utility OVAG will supply power and route waste heat into district heating networks. Power supply, permits, and a turnkey delivery model are already secured, which removes much of the construction risk that usually accompanies value-add infrastructure deals.

The seller is CUBE Infrastructure. Its Fund IV reported $100 million in sales this week, with no target disclosed. The exit comes a day after that report.

Competition in German digital infrastructure is increasingly about sites, power, and speed to delivery rather than customer relationships. CVC DIF's value-add fund is betting that a fully permitted, liquid-cooled 24 MW site will be hard to replicate in the Frankfurt corridor. That bet will be tested as more AI-ready capacity comes online across Europe.