Surely it has to be the Government element as there was also the Canberra Data Centres acquisition earlier in the year on a~$800M valuation. They have a pretty good tie up of the Canberra market and hence Federal Government spend (always higher margins).
Interestingly:
Metronode probably has an even greater tie-up of the NSW Government market and should see a decent ramp up over the next 5-10 years as NSW Government Departments transition from their existing infrastructure. I'm guessing they primarily paid up for this future (high margin) Government income stream, with a side benefit of Metronode's property holdings.
On top of that Equinix borrows at a cheap rate and gets a decent multiple expansion being listed on the NASDAQ and in the US.
Other than the Government element, it seems insane. Think what NextDC, Airtrunk etc..could do with $1BN.
NXT Price at posting:
$6.05 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)