| Name : | IX Europe plc |
|---|---|
| Date of first investment: | July 1999 |
| Location : | Pan European |
| Amount invested : | € 44.2m |
| Activity : | Independent provider of datacentre services |
| Type/Stage : | Start-up |
| Revenues : | € 30.0m |
| Transaction size : | € 120.0m |
| Board members : | Erick Rinner |
| Date of realisation : | September 2007 |
The Business
IXEurope ("IXE") is a pan-European provider of high quality and high connectivity datacentre services for corporates, system integrators, telecommunication companies and Internet service providers. IXE has developed a network of purpose-built IT and telecom facilities in the major European cities, offering housing, back-up, connection services and business continuity to the specification of different users. The strength of IXE is its pan-European approach as an independent datacentre provider. This produces a predictable, highly reliable, independent service for its 400 customers.
The Management
Guy Willner, chief executive, and Christophe de Buchet, chief operating officer, are two young, talented managers with highly relevant and significant experience in the telecom and IT industries. They were attracted by Milestone’s experience in build-ups and platform investments and by Milestone’s skills in understanding an emerging industry. Their enthusiasm and energy is well complemented by Sir Anthony Cleaver, IXE’s chairman, formerly chairman of IBM Europe, and Karen Bach, Group Finance Director, previously with EDS.
Strategic Development
As of December 2006, IXE operates 16 datacentres in the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland. The company has 120 employees and more than 400 blue chip customers and plans to open and acquire further European sites over the next 2 years depending on market demand. Management is developing a wide range of added-value services in its datacentres for its blue-chip customer base. IXE is now one of the leading neutral colocation companies in Europe. Since Milestone's initial investment, we have led three further rounds of funding. IXEurope successfully floated on AIM (ticker: IXE) on 7 April 2006.
On 28 June 2007, Equinix Inc. announced an offer of 100% of IXEurope plc.
