South African Tribunal Approves AIIM Takeover of Vantage's JNB11 Data Center in Johannesburg

The Competition Tribunal of South Africa has approved a merger that will see Main Street 2156, an entity managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers Proprietary Limited (AIIM), take sole control of Vantage Data Centers South Africa's JNB11 data center located north of Johannesburg, marking a significant consolidation move in one of Africa's most dynamic digital infrastructure markets.

The approval follows a recommendation from the Competition Commission of South Africa issued earlier this month. The commission determined that the transaction was "unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market" before referring the matter to the tribunal, which subsequently approved the merger without conditions. The deal will see Main Street 2156 acquire sole control of the JNB11 data center by taking all the issued shares held by Vantage Data Centers South Africa, including shares in Opco, the entity responsible for operating the data center, and shares in Propco, the property holding company that owns the data center building and holds the registered lease rights relating to the facility.

JNB11 is one of the data centers on the larger Johannesburg 1 data center campus operated by Vantage. The campus covers 30 acres of land in Waterfall City, north of Johannesburg, and will support 120 MW of critical IT load at full buildout across three data centers. Development of the second data center on the campus, JNB12.1, has just been completed, according to South African Real Estate Investment Trust Attacq. The company said in its most recent earnings results that development was complete and would support an initial total electrical load of 12 MW, ramping to 16 MW over time. The data center was developed as part of a joint venture between Attacq and Vantage Data Centers, and those results also reveal that Attacq's share of the data center property is valued at ZAR 589 million (US$ 36.25 million).

The transaction underscores the growing appetite for digital infrastructure assets in South Africa, where the data center market was valued at US$ 2.55 billion in 2025 according to Arizton Advisory & Intelligence. The market value is set to grow to US$ 5.28 billion by 2031, driven by the adoption of digital platforms, AI, IoT, and big data, alongside greater participation in the digital economy. The country remains incredibly attractive to both local operators and international hyperscalers, and the approval of this merger signals continued investor confidence in the region's data center sector.