French telco Altice is reportedly close to selling its flagship data center in Portugal.

Jornal Económico reports that the company is in the process of negotiating the sale of its Covilhã data center for €100 million ($107.8m).

Portuguese infrastructure investor Horizon Equity Partners is claimed as the most likely buyer. A deal could materialize in July.

Originally constructed by Portugal Telecom, the 75,500 sqm (813,000 sq ft) Covilhã facility offers 12,000 sqm (129,000 sq ft) of colocation space across 24 data halls; capacity enough for more than 50,000 servers. Opened in 2013 and expanded in 2018, it is certified Tier III by Uptime.

Reports that the telco was looking to sell off the facility first surfaced in December 2022.

A moat surrounds the data center, which is shaped like a cube, to give the illusion it is floating on the water and helps create a cooler microclimate. The moat is fed by a rainwater collection system, while the site includes an on-site photovoltaic solar power generation and a garden with more than 600 trees.

Horizon’s previous investments include Portuguese tower company Omtel – which was carved out of Altice – and solar firm Diagonal Fortune.

Reports surfaced in November 2022 that the French telco was also looking to offload up to 92 data centers in France, reportedly comprising a ‘handful’ of larger sites and ‘dozens’ of smaller facilities. A deal for its French portfolio could be worth up to could be valued at about €1 billion ($1.1 billion).

Portugal Telecom was acquired by Altice in 2014 from Oi for around €5.79 billion. Today, Altice Portugal operates five data centers in the country totaling 17,000 sqm (183,000 sq ft), while Altice’s French subsidiary SFR operates 26 totaling 93,000 sqm (1 million sq ft).

Altice Portugal also operates two cable landing stations
in Sesimbra and Carcavelos, and two teleports in Covilhã and Sintra.