Octotel and MetroFibre owner gets approval to acquire data centre on R15-billion campus
September 17th 2026
The Competition Tribunal has approved the acquisition of a 50% stake in Vantage’s JNB11 data centre by Main Street 2156, an entity managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM).
AIIM is an infrastructure equity investment manager in Africa and a fully owned subsidiary of Old Mutual Alternative Investments.
It has amassed a substantial portfolio of South African telecommunications assets, including a 100% stake in Octotel and a 37% stake in MetroFibre. It is MetroFibre’s single biggest shareholder.
The Competition Commission had recommended that the Tribunal approve the transaction earlier in September.
The transaction involves AIIM acquiring the shares in Vantage JNB11 held by two entities: VDC JNB11 Opco (Pty) Ltd and VDC JNB11 Propco (Pty) Ltd.
Opco is the company responsible for the data centre’s operations, and Propco holds a stake in the property and owns the data centre building.
JNB11 was the first hyperscale facility opened by Vantage in Africa at its Johannesburg campus, which broke ground in 2021 with a planned R15-billion investment.
Vantage revealed in 2021 that the campus, based in Waterfall City, Midrand, would support 80MW of capacity across multiple data centres.
The two-story JNB11 facility initially had 16MW of critical IT capacity across 12,000 square metres. It took 10 months to complete, 10 days ahead of schedule, Vantage said in 2022.
It is one of three data centres in Vantage’s 60,000-square-metre Waterfall campus, which is powered by an 87 MWp system from SolarAfrica.
The design of JNB11 followed Vantage’s standardised campus blueprint, which focused on sustainable construction practices, with power usage effectiveness.
It is powered by a high-voltage substation and includes other energy solutions, such as electric vehicle charging stations.
Vantage said these features enabled it to meet the requirements of the company’s global campus blueprint for sustainability and energy efficiency.
Attacq, one of Waterfall City’s largest developers, which helped build the Mall of Africa, partnered with Vantage on the facility.
AIIM acquires 50% stake in 16MW hyperscale facility in Johannesburg
The JNB11 data centre in Midrand.
In its most recent annual results, Attacq reported that it owned 50% of JNB11, alongside Propco. Based on the Competition Commission and Tribunal’s statements, AIIM is only acquiring the Propco stake.
The commission described JNB11 as a single-tenant fit-out hyperscale facility. Following the acquisition, AIIM will have purchased one of the largest individual hyperscale buildings in South Africa.
Johannesburg is home to Africa’s largest concentration of data centres, many of which are based in and around Midrand. Data Centre Map indicates that there are 36 hyperscale facilities in the city.
Meanwhile, Cape Town has 13 data centres, Durban has 7, and Pretoria has 4. There are more data centres in Johannesburg than in the rest of South Africa combined.
JNB11 comes complete with a closed-loop chilled-water cooling system, on-site security patrols, CCTV at all access points, and dual authentication for entrants.
It also has dedicated offices and workspaces, multiple conference rooms, and is well-located in Waterfall City, surrounded by restaurants, hotels, and shopping and entertainment venues.
The Competition Commission said that the proposed transaction was unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market.
“The proposed transaction does not raise significant public interest concerns,” it said. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.
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