CompCom Recommends Approval of STANLIB’s Acquisition of Africa Data Centres
The acquisition is expected to accelerate ADC’s expansion in Johannesburg and Cape Town, catering to the growing demand for high-capacity connectivity and cloud services by hyperscalers and enterprises.
The Competition Commission of South Africa (CompCom) has recommended the unconditional approval of the acquisition of Africa Data Centres (ADC) by STANLIB Infrastructure Fund II. Following its meeting on January 20, 2026, the Commission confirmed in a media statement on January 22 that the transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any relevant market.
Under the deal, STANLIB Infrastructure Fund II—a firm focused on digital infrastructure, renewable energy, and logistics—will take a minority stake in Cassava ADC, a business unit of the pan-African technology group Cassava Technologies. The agreement includes control over ADC Dev and ADC Sam and follows an initial strategic partnership announced in October 2025 to drive the expansion of AI-ready data centres in South Africa.
The acquisition is expected to accelerate ADC’s expansion in Johannesburg and Cape Town, catering to the growing demand for high-capacity connectivity and cloud services by hyperscalers and enterprises. A key element of the partnership is the development of AI-ready infrastructure, positioning South Africa to better support AI workloads and high-performance computing. Additionally, the transaction will contribute to deleveraging the balance sheet of Cassava Technologies’ subsidiary, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, alongside other investments from global players such as NVIDIA and Google.
The Competition Commission noted that the deal does not raise significant public interest concerns. While CompCom has provided its recommendation, the final approval will be granted by the Competition Tribunal.
