Private equity firm takes majority stake in data center manager Salute

Veteran data center operations and talent specialist Salute has secured a significant investment from asset manager New Mountain Capital, the companies announced on Monday.

While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the announcement said New York-based New Mountain will take a majority stake in Salute, which primarily staffs, manages and operates other companies' data centers. Salute's previous investor, LLR Partners, will retain a “significant minority stake” in the company, the companies said in a joint statement.

Salute also specializes in recruiting and training former members of the U.S. armed forces, with veterans making up about 40% of the workforce, according to the company.

The Wisconsin-based company, known as Salute Mission Critical before a rebrand earlier this year, has grown rapidly since LLR first backed the company in 2021. Salute operates in more than 100 markets worldwide and counts major data center providers such as Digital Realty, while its customers include EdgeConneX, Corscale Data Centers and Compass Datacenters.

Much of the company's expansion to date has come through mergers and acquisitions. In 2022, Salute acquired US data center consulting firm Iconicx Critical Solutions and UK-based AMS Helix, a digital infrastructure solutions provider. Last year, Salute bought Irish data center technology and electrical engineering consultancy OBMG.

The company's talent and management services have also grown beyond data center operations, with separate business units focused on other aspects of the data center lifecycle, from design and construction to decommissioning and retrofit services.

New Mountain's investment in Salute comes as data center providers face significant workforce and workforce development challenges. The shortage of skilled operations talent has emerged as one of the data center industry's most persistent problems since 2020, as most data center companies struggle to fill open positions, according to industry think tank Uptime Institute.

It's a problem that's expected to worsen in the coming months as a wave of new data center construction collides with a “silver tsunami” of data center operations professionals reaching retirement age.