IO has announced a partnership with Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT, Inc. (CVMC REIT) through which CVMC REIT acquired a 100% interest in the real estate containing the IO Phoenix and IO Scottsdale data centers.

CVMC REIT immediately leased the data centers back to IO in a sale-leaseback transaction. The combined transaction was valued at $125 million. 

This partnership provides both parties an opportunity to focus on their core competencies. IO will continue to deliver colocation and cloud services across its global data center footprint while CVMC REIT will own the real estate.

"This transaction is aligned with IO's long-term strategic plan," said Anthony Wanger, president of IO. "Partnering with Carter Validus allows IO to concentrate its focus on what we do best: Operating world-class IO data centers for our customers." 

"We are excited about adding IO to our roster of strong data center tenants in our portfolio and look forward to our continued relationship with them," said Michael Seton, president and chief investment officer, Carter Validus Advisors, LLC. "The quality of these two assets will be a great addition to our growing portfolio of high-quality mission critical assets."