CVC DIF is moving deeper into Germany’s digital infrastructure market with an agreement to acquire a significant majority stake in firstcolo Holding GmbH from Cube Infrastructure Managers. The infrastructure investment arm of CVC will make the investment through DIF Value Add IV, with completion expected by the end of September 2026, subject to customary conditions. The deal gives CVC DIF exposure to an established Frankfurt colocation operator at a time when constrained power availability and rising AI workloads are reshaping the economics of European data centers.

Founded in 2007, firstcolo operates two near-fully-utilized facilities in Frankfurt and serves more than 350 enterprise customers. Its offering spans colocation, dedicated cloud hardware, cloud, connectivity and managed services, creating a broader relationship with customers than a straightforward rack-space provider. That combination has helped the company build recurring revenue, long-standing customer relationships and low churn while scaling under Cube Infrastructure Managers. CVC DIF now inherits that operating base alongside an expansion pipeline designed to address increasingly demanding enterprise, cloud and AI workloads.

FRA7 Becomes First Major Growth Engine

The centerpiece of firstcolo’s expansion is FRA7, a data center under construction in Rosbach within the Frankfurt metropolitan region. The facility will deliver 24 MW of total gross capacity, with firstcolo already securing the site, power supply, permits and fixed-price turnkey construction arrangements. Firm tenant commitments and strong customer demand reduce some of the commercial risk associated with large-scale capacity additions, giving CVC DIF a clearer path toward ramp-up. The project also connects digital infrastructure with regional energy planning, as a local utility partner will secure FRA7’s energy supply and use its waste heat for district heating.

The FRA7 strategy also signals where firstcolo sees the next stage of German data center demand emerging. Rather than treating the facility as an isolated capacity project, management plans to use its development and operating experience as a blueprint for additional high-performance sites across Frankfurt and other attractive German markets. The model combines resilient infrastructure, energy-efficient design and enterprise-focused services, while preserving the founder-led management structure under CEO and co-founder Jerome Evans, COO and co-founder Nicolaj Kamensek, and CFO Dennis Bergfeld. That continuity could prove important as firstcolo moves from a regional colocation operator toward a more scalable infrastructure platform.

CVC DIF Sees a Supply-Constrained Opportunity

Willem Jansonius, Managing Partner at CVC DIF and Co-head of the DIF Value Add strategy, said: “firstcolo represents a rare opportunity to invest in a high-quality, founder-led colocation platform in an attractive and supply-constrained FLAP-D data centre markets. The company combines a resilient, cash-generative existing business with a substantially de-risked expansion project and a differentiated service offering for enterprise customers. We look forward to working with Jerome, Nicolaj and the wider firstcolo team to deliver FRA7 and support the company’s development into the leading German colocation platform.”

Stefan Moosmann, Head of DACH at CVC DIF, added: “firstcolo is a strong example of CVC DIF’s local-for-local approach in action. The opportunity was sourced through our Frankfurt team’s local network and developed in seamless collaboration with our pan-European digital infrastructure team. By combining local market access with deep sector and execution expertise, we were able to develop strong conviction in the business and a clear plan to support its next phase of growth.”

Firstcolo Positions FRA7 for AI Demand

Jerome Evans, CEO and Co-founder of firstcolo, said: “This partnership marks an important new chapter for firstcolo and strengthens our ability to execute our long-term growth strategy. FRA7 is more than a single data centre development: it is the first building block of a scalable, high-performance infrastructure platform designed to support the next generation of AI, cloud and enterprise workloads in Germany. Together with CVC DIF, we intend to build on our strong foundation, expand our presence in the Frankfurt region and develop further high-performance data centres in attractive German markets over the coming years. Our ambition is to create a sustainable and sovereign infrastructure platform that combines technical excellence, operational reliability and long-term customer value.”

Nicolaj Kamensek, COO and Co-founder of firstcolo, said: “Since firstcolo was founded, we have built our business around technical excellence, operational reliability and close relationships with our customers. Our next phase of growth will apply these principles at a significantly larger scale. FRA7 is being designed as a highly efficient, AI-ready facility with the power, cooling, connectivity and operational processes required for demanding high-density workloads. The experience gained through its delivery will provide a practical blueprint for the planning and operation of further data centres. As we expand, our priority will be to maintain consistent standards across the platform while preserving the personal support, short decision-making paths and operational responsiveness on which our customers rely.”

A Larger German Platform Takes Shape

The transaction ultimately places CVC DIF behind a strategy that links existing enterprise demand with new high-density capacity. firstcolo enters the partnership with infrastructure, customers and a partially de-risked expansion already in motion, while FRA7 provides a tangible test of the platform’s ability to scale. AI workloads raise the stakes because future facilities will need to coordinate power, cooling, connectivity and operational reliability at substantially higher densities than traditional enterprise environments. If firstcolo executes FRA7 successfully, CVC DIF will have a stronger foundation for pursuing additional capacity in Germany’s most attractive and power-constrained data center markets.