Houlihan Lokey Advises Connect Des Moines

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Connect Des Moines, LLC, has been acquired by Cologix. The transaction closed on June 1, 2024.

Connect Des Moines is a data center operator in Des Moines, Iowa, that was founded in 2010 as an on-ramp to access fiber from Denver to Chicago. Since its founding, the company’s data center in Des Moines has grown to become the most interconnected, carrier-dense data center in Iowa, a market that has experienced explosive data center growth with billions invested by the major hyperscale cloud companies. Connect Des Moines’ carrier hotel represents a strategic interconnection point for fiber networks and connectivity to surrounding hyperscale locations in Iowa and other key markets in the Midwest.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Cologix is North America’s leading interconnection and hyperscale edge data center platform. Its carrier-dense data center footprint comprises more than 700 networks, over 350 cloud service providers, and 30+ on-ramps. The company provides colocation and connectivity solutions to more than 1,950 customers through its operations that span over 40 data centers in 11 North American markets. Through this acquisition, Cologix adds two new strategic, carrier-dense facilities in Iowa to its platform, reaching its 12th market in North America and third market in the Midwest.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive sellside advisor to Connect Des Moines and assisted in marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction. This transaction further demonstrates the Houlihan Lokey Digital Infrastructure team’s leading position in advising data center companies, specifically carrier hotels and platforms with a strong interconnection strategy.

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