CBRE Group said on October 20 that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Onnec Group, a London-based provider of data center infrastructure services, in a deal that extends the Dallas firm's critical infrastructure business across Europe and Asia Pacific.
The initial purchase price is 460 million pounds in cash, or approximately 610 million dollars. CBRE and Onnec have also agreed to a multi-year earnout of up to 300 million pounds, approximately 400 million dollars, payable if Onnec meets certain growth thresholds. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed around the end of the year.
Founded in 1986 and based in London, Onnec specializes in the design, deployment and maintenance of network, fiber and data center infrastructure. Its approximately 800 employees serve hyperscalers and other large technology companies across key markets in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific. CBRE said that geographic footprint aligns well with the data center infrastructure services it already delivers in the United States.
Onnec will operate as part of CBRE's Critical Infrastructure Services line of business. CBRE expects Onnec to generate approximately 370 million pounds in revenue, about 498 million dollars, and more than 50 million pounds of core EBITDA, about 67 million dollars, in 2027. The company said the deal should be immediately accretive to its core earnings per share.
With Onnec included, CBRE expects its Critical Infrastructure Services business to generate nearly 4.5 billion dollars in total revenue in 2027. The rest of its services businesses, most notably Project Management and Advisory Services, are expected to add almost 2.5 billion dollars of infrastructure services revenue, bringing total estimated infrastructure services revenue for 2027 to nearly 7.0 billion dollars. That figure excludes revenue from periodic data center land sales in CBRE's development business.
"CBRE is pursuing an explicit strategy to build a global infrastructure services business to complement our real estate services business," said Vikram Kohli, CBRE's chief operating officer. "We've long believed Onnec is an excellent fit in this strategy." Kohli said the acquisition is also consistent with CBRE's effort to build resilient businesses that benefit from secular tailwinds.
Onnec chairman Barry Horgan said the company has focused from the start on delivering connectivity solutions for its customers. "As part of CBRE, we gain the platform and expertise to broaden our capabilities, creating even greater value for our clients, and provide new opportunities for our employees," he said.
The deal underlines where value is accumulating in the AI data center buildout. Alongside land, power and servers, hyperscalers need firms that can design, cable, connect and maintain the physical network inside facilities at global scale, and do it consistently across regions. By buying an established specialist rather than building the capability market by market, CBRE gains an operating team, long-standing hyperscaler relationships and a European and Asia Pacific delivery base in a single transaction.
J.P. Morgan Securities acted as financial advisor and Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett as legal advisor to CBRE. Goldman Sachs International acted as financial advisor and Freshfields as legal advisor to Onnec. CBRE, a Fortune 500 and S and P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, describes itself as the world's largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, with more than 155,000 employees serving clients in more than 100 countries.