Analysis
CBRE Group agreed to acquire Onnec Group, a London-based data-center and network infrastructure provider, for £460 million (about $610 million) in cash upfront, with an additional earnout of up to £300 million (about $400 million) tied to growth targets over several years, the companies said Tuesday via a joint announcement.
What does Onnec do, and why does CBRE want it?
Founded in 1986 and based in London, Onnec designs, deploys and maintains network, fiber and data-center infrastructure for large technology companies across the UK, continental Europe and Asia-Pacific. It employs roughly 800 people and is projected to generate about £370 million ($498 million) in revenue by 2027, with core EBITDA above £50 million ($67 million). "CBRE is pursuing an explicit strategy to build a global infrastructure services business," said Vikram Kohli, CBRE's chief operating officer.
“It employs roughly 800 people and is projected to generate about £370 million ($498 million) in revenue by 2027, with core EBITDA above £50 million ($67 million).”
Onnec's geographic reach -- Europe and Asia-Pacific in particular -- fills a gap in CBRE's largely US-based data-center infrastructure work, and the deal is structured to be immediately accretive to CBRE's core earnings per share. "As part of CBRE, we gain the platform and expertise to broaden our capabilities," said Barry Horgan, Onnec's chairman.
A crowded race for hyperscaler dollars
CBRE's move puts it in more direct competition with Equinix and Digital Realty, both of which already run global data-center infrastructure at scale, as well as with construction and engineering firms that typically win hyperscaler build-out contracts. Unlike those pure-play data-center operators, CBRE is betting its existing commercial real-estate relationships give it an edge landing infrastructure work alongside its traditional leasing and property-management business -- a bundled pitch Equinix and Digital Realty don't make. The deal, part of a wave of real-estate-adjacent infrastructure dealmaking Pulse has tracked at CBRE's company hub, is expected to close around the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
Worth noting: the earnout structure means CBRE is only paying the full combined price if Onnec hits growth thresholds, so CBRE isn't fully underwriting today's AI-infrastructure demand continuing at its current pace -- a more disciplined structure than much of the all-cash data-center M&A seen this year.
