CBRE’s $1bn Onnec acquisition: data centre infrastructure lens for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
CBRE is acquiring London-based data centre infrastructure specialist Onnec for about $1bn, comprising £460m ($610m) in upfront cash and an earnout of up to £300m ($400m), with completion expected around year-end subject to approvals. Onnec, which designs, deploys and maintains network, fibre and data centre infrastructure for hyperscalers across the UK, continental Europe and Asia Pacific, is projected to deliver roughly £370m ($498m) revenue and over £50m ($67m) core EBITDA in 2027. The 800-strong business will sit within CBRE’s critical infrastructure services line, which CBRE targets to reach nearly $4.5bn revenue in 2027.
Technical Brief
- Onnec’s scope covers full lifecycle network, fibre and data centre infrastructure design, deployment and maintenance.
- Around 800 employees provide installation and maintenance capacity across multiple concurrent hyperscale data centre programmes.
- Operational footprint spans the UK, continental Europe and Asia Pacific, complementing CBRE’s existing US data centre work.
- Onnec’s portfolio includes campus-scale data centre infrastructure, such as the Offenbach, Germany facility referenced.
Our Take
CBRE already features in our infrastructure coverage for advisory and facilities management roles in the UK (for example the Glasgow city centre growth fund work and the University of Hertfordshire FM contract), so acquiring Onnec signals a push to own more of the technical delivery capability around critical infrastructure rather than just advise on it.
The multi‑year earnout structure tied to Onnec’s 2027 revenue and core EBITDA targets suggests CBRE is using performance-based consideration to manage integration risk in higher-growth segments like data centres, a pattern that is relatively uncommon in the more traditional project and contract awards that dominate our 915 Infrastructure stories.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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