The Samrand Data Centre in Johannesburg could return to the Standard Bank stable after the Competition Commission recommended that Stanlib be allowed to acquire Africa Data Centres (ADC), the digital infrastructure arm of Cassava Technologies. The transaction, which still requires approval by the Competition Tribunal, marks a further consolidation of ownership in South Africa’s fast-growing data centre market, according to Business Day.
Stanlib, the asset management unit of Standard Bank Group, is seeking to acquire Cassava ADC through one of its investment funds. While the value of the deal has not been disclosed, the Commission said it found no evidence that the transaction would substantially lessen competition or raise material public interest concerns. The matter will now be considered by the Tribunal, which has the authority to approve or block the acquisition.
Data centres have become increasingly attractive assets for institutional investors as they generate long-term, contract-based income from cloud service providers, telecommunications companies and large corporates. Sector growth has been driven by the rapid expansion of cloud computing over the past decade and more recently by rising demand for artificial intelligence workloads, which require large-scale processing and storage capacity. Industry estimates show that Africa’s data centre capacity is expanding at double-digit rates as multinational technology firms seek to locate infrastructure closer to users, as reported by Bloomberg.
ADC operates a network of hyperscale and edge data centres across Southern, East and West Africa. The business was built on Cassava’s fibre backbone, developed through Liquid Intelligent Technologies, allowing the group to bundle connectivity and hosting services. In South Africa, ADC owns the Samrand facility north of Johannesburg, which it previously acquired from Standard Bank. Under Cassava’s ownership, the unit has undergone significant capital investment to increase capacity and modernise facilities.
Cassava has positioned ADC as a continental platform for digital infrastructure. In late 2021, the group committed $500 million to expand its footprint, targeting the development of 10 hyperscale facilities across markets including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco and Egypt. That strategy was reinforced in 2024 when RMB provided a R2 billion financing facility to support further build-out and equipment upgrades.
The proposed acquisition comes three months after Stanlib announced an initial investment in the business, signalling a gradual increase in exposure rather than a single-step takeover. Market analysts note that such phased transactions are becoming more common in capital-intensive sectors, where long-term demand visibility is strong but construction and power costs remain high.
The Commission said its investigation found no competition risks arising from the transaction, indicating that sufficient alternative providers would remain in the market. South Africa hosts a growing cluster of local and international data centre operators, reflecting its role as a regional hub for cloud and enterprise services. At the same time, regulatory scrutiny has increased as infrastructure assets become more central to economic activity and national digital strategies.
For Stanlib, the deal would deepen its presence in infrastructure-linked investments at a time when pension funds and insurers are seeking assets that offer inflation protection and stable yields. For Cassava, the transaction represents a partial exit from a capital-intensive segment while retaining strategic exposure to digital services through its broader technology portfolio, as noted by Reuters.
The Competition Tribunal is expected to rule on the transaction in the coming weeks. If approved, the acquisition would underscore the growing role of traditional financial institutions in owning and financing Africa’s digital backbone, as data centres move from niche assets to core components of economic infrastructure.