The Spanish infrastructure investment company Asterion Industrial Partners announced this Friday its entry into the data center market in Portugal through the purchase of the Covilhã Data Center Campus from Altice Portugal, for 120 million euros. In 2023, Horizon Equity Partners, owned by the former Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Sérgio Monteiro, was in the race to purchase Altice’s data center, but negotiations fell through.
With less pressure from investors and interest rates, Patrick Drahi opens the door to offers, but it is not yet certain that Altice International’s most profitable operation will leave Portugal
Photo Luís Barra
Asterion detailed, through a statement, cited by Lusa, that the Covilhã data center currently has 6.8 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity and a modular ‘design’ that allows for significant expansion. A fund specialized in purchasing data centers, Asterion has now added the Covilhã data center, which will maintain as anchor customers those that the owner of Meo still has in its portfolio.
The center allows the addition of up to 75 MW through new modules integrated into the existing campus and has the possibility of reaching approximately 175 MW on adjacent land that already has a guaranteed electrified supply.
The Covilhã data center is the largest in the country
Alberto Frias
Built more than a decade ago, it is still one of the largest in Europe
Built in 2013, the Covilhã data center is still one of the largest in Europe. It has been the target of an investment of 100 million euros since it openedjust over a decade ago, revealed an official source from Altice Portugal, to Expresso, in 2023.
That year, there were already negotiations and the strongest candidate at the time was Horizon, a fund led by the former Secretary of State for Communications, Sérgio Monteiro, a business that was later suspended following the Operation Picoas investigationan allegedly fraudulent scheme involving Altice Portugal suppliers, and Portuguese shareholder Armando Pereira.
The center, located 200 kilometers (km) from Porto and 220 km from Lisbon, can now be explained by the company in a statement, serving both the Portuguese market and European operators in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that require high-performance computing infrastructure.
Patrick Drahi
luís barra
Altice Portugal will continue to be the main client of the center of Covilhã under a long-term service contract, to reinforce a strategic alliance that provides continuity and visibility to both parties.
For the investment company, the Portuguese market has several advantages, such as competitive energy prices, robust terrestrial connectivity and a favorable regulatory environment.
“Portugal also stands out as one of the most advanced fiber optic markets in Europe and benefits from a resilient energy system, supported by significant investment in renewable energy”, says the statement.
Completion of the transaction, subject to relevant regulatory approvals, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2026.
This is Asterion’s second operation in the data center sector, following the sale, last year, of Nabiax, the platform in Spain that the company had developed with Telefónica since 2019.