Data Center campus developer EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure has been acquired by Swiss private equity fund Partners Group in a billion-dollar deal.

Partners Group announced Friday it is investing $1.2B in EdgeCore, a sum the company says entails both the purchase of existing data center campuses and plans to finance a rapid expansion of EdgeCore’s existing platform into new markets.

In a joint statement, officials at both companies referenced plans for expansion into new markets through development and acquisition in the near future. They also hinted that a broader growth strategy — and possibly further investment from the Swiss PE fund — lies ahead.

“Partners Group is positioned to scale EdgeCore well beyond the initial commitment and target markets,” the statement said.

The purchase of EdgeCore is Partners’ most significant entry into the data center and digital infrastructure space, although not its first. Last year, the company acquired atNorth, a renewables-focused data center operator with 100 megawatts of capacity in Iceland, according to Data Center Frontier. But EdgeCore is a far bigger player and represents a more substantial commitment to growth in the data center sector.

Founded in 2018, EdgeCore operates a campus in Northern Virginia’s Loudoun County with 54 MW of capacity, plus a larger five-facility campus near Phoenix with 170 MW of capacity and over 1M SF of data center space. Beyond its two operational campuses, the company owns development sites in Silicon Valley and near Reno, Nevada — holdings that Partners Managing Director Ed Diffendal cited as central factors in the fund’s interest in EdgeCore.

“EdgeCore represents a compelling opportunity to deepen and broaden our digital infrastructure assets and capabilities,” Diffendal said in a written statement. “We are excited to scale EdgeCore, and we believe its strong portfolio of data center sites and advanced pipeline of shovel-ready assets in strategically important markets should enable rapid growth.”

Diffendal also pointed to the experience of EdgeCore’s management team as a key consideration for a fund looking to make its first significant inroads into the U.S. digital infrastructure space. EdgeCore CEO Tom Ray is an industry veteran who helped launch the company that would become CoreSite. He served as CoreSite’s CEO until 2016.

“We are confident that the EdgeCore team also brings embedded organizational capabilities to scale,” Diffendal said. “We look forward to working with the management team and fueling the next phase of growth of the EdgeCore platform."

The acquisition of EdgeCore continues a trend of robust merger and acquisition activity in the data center sector that has persisted despite a turbulent macroeconomic environment. According to Synergy Research, the year had already seen a near-record $47B in transaction value prior to the EdgeCore deal.