By Austen Hufford 

Data center company Equinix Inc. said it would buy 24 data center sites from Verizon Communications Inc. for $3.6 billion in a move to expand its offerings.

Equinix said the deal includes 29 data center buildings across 15 metro areas. The company highlighted the locations in Miami, where a network access point connects the U.S. to Latin America, and another in Virginia, which connects with government customers.

In a letter to customers, Equinix Chief Executive Steve Smith said the growing needs of its customers for more partners in more places led to the deal.

The deal also includes about 250 Verizon employees.

Verizon has been selling physical assets in recent years, including multi-billion assets sales to Frontier Communications Corp. and American Tower Corp.

Shares of Equinix rose 2.3% in premarket trading as Verizon shares rose 0.6%.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 06, 2016 09:51 ET (14:51 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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