Global law firm Ashurst Perkins Coie has advised Arcus Infrastructure Partners (“Arcus”), an independent fund manager focused solely on long-term investments in European infrastructure, on the acquisition by Volta Data Centres of Reynolds House Manchester data centre from Lunar Digital through a carve-out transaction. The acquired business provides carrier-neutral, interconnection-led colocation services from the Reynolds House campus in Manchester, United Kingdom. The transaction excludes the Lunar Digital brand.
Lunar Digital is based in the south-central Manchester connectivity cluster, the city’s main networking hub. The site hosts c.25 carriers, a London Internet Exchange point of presence and direct dark fibre links to Equinix’s MA1 data centre. Lunar serves c.60 customers across content networks, carriers, cybersecurity, IT services and enterprise. The site has c.1.45MW of IT capacity installed today, with plans to expand to 2.5MW.
Manchester is the UK’s largest regional data centre market outside London and the leading network aggregation point for Northern England. This acquisition marks Volta’s first expansion outside London and establishes a platform for further growth in the region. The acquired Reynolds House business will draw on staff transferring with the business, further recruitment and Volta’s central resources.
The Ashurst team was led by partner Aaron Shute, supported by senior associate Aoife Fenlon and associates Ellie Wilson, Layla Kimmie and Tom Segev.
Partner Rebecca Clarke, senior associate Matthew Hewitson and associates Hana Byrne and Nick Hwong advised on commercial contract matters, partners Lee Foxcroft and Charlie Reid, senior associate Michael Condlyffe and associate Harry Klein advised on real estate and planning matters, partner Katie Williams and associate Lucinda Merrett advised on power related matters, and partner Briony Holcombe and associate Ceren Koksoy advised on financing related matters. Partner Nicholas Gardner, senior associate Ben Doeh and associate Freddy Pilkington provided tax advice, partner Chris Eberhardt, senior associate Laura Carter and associates Isabella Hunt and Eleanor Popplewell provided regulatory advice, and partner Eleanor Reeves and counsel James Nierinck provided EHS advice. Employment advice was provided by partner Ruth Buchanan, senior associate Charlotte Ball and solicitor James Furber, pensions advice was provided by counsel John Gordon and IP advice was provided by partner David Futter.
