Cequel Data Centers, LLC, has announced the acquisition of Colo4Dallas, LLC, a provider of carrier-neutral colocation services, with highly redundant power supplies, environmental controls, and other critical infrastructure support at a 68,000-sq-ft, state-of-the-art data center in Dallas.

Cequel Data Centers was established by Cequel III, a St. Louis-based management and investment firm, and Thompson Street Capital Partners, a St. Louis-based private equity firm, together with New York-based private equity firm Charterhouse Group, Inc.

With this transaction, Colo4Dallas becomes Colo4, LLC, a subsidiary of Cequel Data Centers. Paul Estes of Cequel III has been named president and chief executive officer of Colo4.

"We anticipate great growth opportunities in this business, as more and more companies are looking for the type of unrivaled support that Colo4 offers to maintain its customers' mission-critical information systems," Estes said.

Jerry Kent, CEO of Cequel III, said: "We're very pleased to have this opportunity to work with St. Louis-based Thompson Street and again collaborate with our colleagues at Charterhouse, with whom we have been partners for more than 25 years. We look forward to growing Cequel Data Centers through additional acquisitions with these high-quality firms."

Jim Cooper, managing partner of Thompson Street Capital, added: "We are excited about partnering with Cequel III and Charterhouse to acquire Colo4. The data center industry should continue to benefit from the explosive growth in demand for broadband Internet services."

Thomas C. Dircks, managing partner at Charterhouse, said: "We are very excited about starting our fifth investment with the Cequel III team and continuing a partnership that has consistently produced outstanding results for our firm and investors. We are also looking forward to working with Thompson Street Capital in building a leading company in this exciting market."

RBC Capital Markets was the sole lead arranger for the debt financing associated with this acquisition. RBC Daniels acted as financial advisor to the sellers. Financial terms were not disclosed.