CBRE to Acquire Onnec for Up to £760 Million to Expand Data Center Infrastructure Services

CBRE Group Inc. has agreed to buy Onnec Group Limited, a London-based firm that designs, installs and maintains network, fiber and data center infrastructure for hyperscale operators, in a deal announced Oct. 20 that adds a European and Asia Pacific connectivity specialist to the Dallas-based company's fast-growing infrastructure services arm. CBRE will pay 460 million pounds (about $610 million) in cash at closing, plus an earnout of up to 300 million pounds (about $400 million) over several years if Onnec meets agreed growth thresholds.

Deal background

Onnec describes itself as an independent IT infrastructure solutions and services partner that delivers end-to-end connectivity for data centers, offices, fulfillment centers and other environments. Its work sits at the physical layer of digital infrastructure: the cabling plant, fiber backbones and network installations that have to be in place before servers, storage and accelerators can be switched on. The company organizes its roughly 800 full-time staff across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the United States and Asia Pacific around a small group of large global customers, and it says many of those relationships span more than 30 years.

For CBRE, the purchase is the latest step in a stated plan to build a global infrastructure services business alongside its traditional commercial real estate brokerage, leasing and facilities work. Chief Operating Officer Vikram Kohli said CBRE is pursuing an explicit strategy to build that business and has long viewed Onnec as an excellent fit. He also tied the deal to CBRE's effort to build resilient businesses that benefit from secular tailwinds. Onnec Chairman Barry Horgan said joining CBRE gives the company the platform and expertise to broaden its capabilities while keeping its customer-focused approach.

The move follows CBRE's acquisition of Pearce Services, announced in November 2025 for $1.2 billion plus a performance-based earnout. Pearce installs and services uninterruptible power supplies, generators and cooling systems for data centers and other critical facilities, according to a Yahoo Finance report at the time. Pearce brought CBRE deeper into power and cooling in the U.S.; Onnec extends the company into fiber and network work, mainly outside the U.S.

Industry implications

The deal reflects a shift in where value is being captured as hyperscalers and colocation providers race to bring new capacity online. Data center construction schedules increasingly depend on specialist trades such as fiber installation, cabling and network commissioning, not only on land, power and building shells. AI training clusters raise the stakes further: they rely on dense, high-count fiber between racks and halls, and errors or delays in that layer can hold back an entire building from going live.

By owning that capability, CBRE can offer hyperscale clients a broader bundle that spans site services, critical power, maintenance and now connectivity. That matters to operators that prefer fewer, larger vendors able to deliver the same standards across many countries. It also gives CBRE more recurring, service-based revenue that is less tied to the cycles of property transactions, which have been volatile since interest rates rose in 2022.

Competitive and supply chain implications

Onnec's addition puts CBRE in more direct competition with engineering contractors, electrical and network integrators, and facilities managers that already serve hyperscale campuses. Real estate services rivals such as JLL and Cushman & Wakefield offer data center advisory and facilities management, but CBRE's recent deals push it further into hands-on technical installation, where skilled labor is the main constraint.

That labor angle is central. Certified fiber technicians, cabling crews and network engineers are in short supply in many European and Asian hubs, and projects compete for the same teams. Buying an established workforce of about 800 people is a faster route to capacity than building one from scratch. For hyperscalers, a larger owner with deeper balance sheet resources could mean more predictable crew availability, while smaller independent cabling contractors may face tougher competition for the largest framework agreements.

The earnout structure also signals how CBRE is managing risk. Tying up to 300 million pounds to growth thresholds keeps part of the price dependent on Onnec winning more work, which in turn depends on the pace of hyperscale build-outs in its regions.

Regional implications

The acquisition is weighted toward the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific, the regions where Onnec's hyperscale customers are concentrated. In Europe, data center growth is clustered around hubs such as London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin, plus newer locations in the Nordics, Spain and Italy, where grid connections and planning permissions often set the pace. Companies that can mobilize technical crews quickly once a site is energized are positioned to win work as those projects advance.

In Asia Pacific, hyperscale campuses continue to expand in markets including Singapore, Japan, Australia, India and Malaysia. CBRE already has a broad real estate footprint across the region, and Onnec's teams could let it attach technical services to its existing client relationships there.

What comes next

• Regulatory reviews of the transaction, with closing targeted around the end of 2026.
• Integration of Onnec into CBRE's Critical Infrastructure Services business line after closing.
• Any announcement on Onnec's leadership structure under CBRE ownership, which the release did not address.
• Progress on the growth thresholds that determine how much of the earnout of up to 300 million pounds is paid.
• Further bolt-on deals as CBRE continues to build its global infrastructure services business.

Sources

• CBRE Group: CBRE Expands Critical Infrastructure Capabilities in Europe and Asia Pacific with Onnec Acquisition (Oct. 20, 2026)
• Business Wire release via FinancialContent (Oct. 20, 2026)
• Yahoo Finance: CBRE pays $1.2B to expand data center, critical power system capabilities (Nov. 2025)

Image: Overhead fiber raceway above network racks in a data center, by Robert.Harker via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped and edited by Credence Research.