DigitalBridge
| File:DigitalBridge-Logo.jpeg | |
| Formerly | Colony Capital (1991–2021) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| |
| Industry | Investment Digital infrastructure |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Founder | Tom Barrack |
| Headquarters | Boca Raton, Florida, U.S. |
Key people |
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| Products | Towers, Data centers, Small cells, Fiber, Edge infrastructure, Investment management, Digital operating |
| AUM | $84 billion (January 2024) |
| Website | digitalbridge |
DigitalBridge Group, Inc. operates as an international investment firm specializing in digital infrastructure assets such as cell towers, data centers, fiber networks, small cells, and edge infrastructure. The company is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, with additional offices located in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Singapore.
Back in 2010, when it was still known as Colony Capital, the firm oversaw investments totaling around $30 billion.
Initial Investments
Colony Capital broadened its asset base by acquiring Raffles International in 2005, a portfolio that included 41 hotels under the Raffles and Swissotel brands. The following year, it partnered with Kingdom Hotels International to purchase Fairmont Hotels and Resorts for $3.24 billion. Additionally, in 2006, the company acquired the French football club Paris Saint-Germain.
In 2007, Colony agreed to privatize Station Casinos through a $5.5 billion transaction; however, the economic recession led to Station Casinos filing for bankruptcy in 2009. During the restructuring phase, Colony’s ownership was diluted after injecting further capital.
The year 2008 saw Colony entering into a joint venture with Michael Jackson concerning the Neverland Ranch property, resulting in Jackson receiving $35 million from the deal.
By 2010, Colony provided financing to photographer Annie Leibovitz to safeguard her assets from foreclosure. Later that year, it co-led a $663 million acquisition of Miramax from Disney via a joint venture including Qatar Investment Authority and other partners.
In 2017, Colony NorthStar was established through the merger of Colony Capital with NorthStar Asset Management Group and NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. That same year, it divested its Townsend Group unit to Aon for $475 million.
Colony also explored acquiring The Weinstein Company in 2017 but withdrew due to reputational concerns following allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein.
By mid-2018, Colony NorthStar had raised over $7 billion in capital since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with approximately 25% coming from investors based in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Recent Investments
On December 20, 2021, DigitalBridge divested most of its Other Equity & Debt real estate holdings to Fortress Investment Group for a net consideration of $506.8 million—comprising $443.4 million at closing plus future payments.
In early 2022, DigitalBridge finalized its second flagship fund with commitments totaling $8.3 billion. In April of that year, it acquired Wafra’s interest in its investment management subsidiary for $800 million and transitioned from a REIT structure to a C-Corporation. Additionally in 2022, DigitalBridge purchased AMP Capital's global infrastructure equity business for $328 million and acquired Switch, Inc., a Las Vegas-based data center operator, for $11 billion. It also sold a 27% stake in DataBank to Swiss Life and EDF Invest for $1.2 billion while maintaining a 15.5% ownership.
In March 2022, DigitalBridge led a $60 million Series C financing round for enterprise IT firm Celona and followed with a $385 million funding round for UK-based fiber startup Netomnia in April. By June, it had acquired 3,300 telecommunications towers from Telenet in Belgium valued at €745 million.
August 2022 marked DigitalBridge’s partnership with Columbia Capital to create Xenith Infrastructure Group focused on fiber markets across Asia-Pacific. In 2023, the company purchased a majority (51%) stake in Deutsche Telekom's tower operations.
The acquisition of AMP Capital was completed by February 2023. In July of that year, Aware Super invested $500 million into Switch Inc., which is owned by DigitalBridge.
By September 2023, DigitalBridge recapitalized DataBank with commitments amounting to $2.2 billion including an additional $219 million injection. In November, it sold a 40% interest in Landmark Dividends to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and secured a $1.5 billion investment from AustralianSuper into Vantage Data Centers. That same month saw the closing of its digital infrastructure credit fund at $1.1 billion.
December 2023 included providing Surf Internet with a $200 million debt facility aimed at network expansion. In January 2024, DigitalBridge supported Intel's spin-off of Articul8—a company specializing in enterprise generative AI solutions—and acquired an equity stake in Vantage Data Centers.
On June 13, 2024, Vantage Data Centers completed an equity financing round worth $9.2 billion led by DigitalBridge alongside Silver Lake. In September of that year, Verizon and Vertical Bridge agreed on a telecom tower sale-leaseback deal valued at $3.3 billion. October featured DataBank's $2 billion equity raise spearheaded by AustralianSuper.
Also during October 2024, DigitalBridge initiated a tender offer aimed at privatizing Japanese telecommunications infrastructure provider JTOWER and agreed to acquire Yondr Group—a hyperscale data center solutions provider—although terms were not disclosed.
Senior Executives
- Marc Ganzi - Chief Executive Officer
- Ben Jenkins - President and Chief Investment Officer
- Thomas Mayrhofer - Chief Financial Officer