Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11843 – ARES / MACQUARIE / DATA REALTY GROUP / PRIME DATA CENTERS) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2025-02-21
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: banking, computer centre, consultancy, data processing, economic concentration, financial services, holding company, investment company, merger control








C_202501340EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/1340


21.2.2025






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11843 – ARES / MACQUARIE / DATA REALTY GROUP / PRIME DATA CENTERS)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2025/1340)


1.   
On 11 February 2025, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).
This notification concerns the following undertakings:






—


Ares Management Corporation (‘Ares’, United States), currently ultimately controlled by Ares Partners Holdco LLC (‘Ares Partners’, United Sates),










—


Wholesale DC Asset Holdings LLC (‘WDCAH’, United States), currently ultimatly controlled by Macquarie Group Limited (‘Macquarie’, United States),










—


Data Realty Group (‘DRG’, United States), wholy owned by Data Realty Holding Corp (United States).










—


Prime Data Centers LLC (‘Prime Data Centers’, United States), currently jointly controlled by WDCAH and DRG.




Ares will acquire, within the meaning of Article 3(1), point (b) and Article 3(4) of the Merger Regulation, joint control of Prime.
The concentration is accomplished by way of contract or any other means.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:






—


Ares is a global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes.










—


Macquarie is a diversified financial group providing clients with asset management and finance, banking, advisory and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity, and commodities. WDCAH is a holding company within Macquarie through which it holds its interest in Prime Data Centers.










—


DRG is an investment fund that invests globally in businesses that serve data infrastructure needs. DRG’s investment strategy focuses on data centers, including operations and development.










—


Prime Data Centers provides data center infrastructure solutions, offering facilities designed to support the data needs of businesses, with a focus on sustainability and security.






3.   
On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.
Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified treatment for certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.


4.   
The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. The following reference should always be specified:
M.11843 – ARES / MACQUARIE / DATA REALTY GROUPG / PRIME DATA CENTER
Observations can be sent to the Commission by email or by post. Please use the contact details below:
Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu

Postal address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË







(1)  
            OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).

(2)  
            OJ C 160, 5.5.2023, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/1340/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)