Data Center Investment News — 10/03/2023
IXAfrica Announces Appointment of New Member to its Board of Directors
IXAfrica Data Centre Limited (“IXAfrica”, or the “Company”), a leading developer and operator of hyperscale-ready data centres in East Africa is pleased to announce the appointment of William Barney (“Bill”) to its Board of Directors.
Bill has had a long and successful career within the digital infrastructure sector globally and is currently Chairman of the Pacific Telecoms Council (“PTC”), a global membership organization promoting the advancement of information and communication technologies in the Pacific region, and well-known for its annual conference.
Bill brings a wealth of experience to the Board of IXAfrica as the Company progresses on its business strategy and advances on the development of its Nairobi campus.
Bill is the Founder and Chairman of Asian Century Equity, an emerging markets private capital technology investor, Founder of Turbidite, an emerging markets data centre investment platform focused initially on Southeast Asia, and serves on the Board of CtrlS, an Indian hyper-scale data centre platform.
Green Mountain signs data center deal with TikTok for new site in Norway
Norwegian data center company, Green Mountain, has entered into an agreement with TikTok to support their increasing data storage needs in Europe. A new 150 MW site, The OSL2-Hamar, is currently being constructed for this purpose.
A total of five data center buildings, each with a capacity of 30 MW, is planned at the site, making this Norway’s largest data center campus. The first building is scheduled for completion by November 2023. TikTok has signed an initial contract for 3 buildings and 90 MW of capacity, but with an opportunity to extend capacity up to 150 MW by 2025.
“The Hamar region is an ideal location for our data centers. Here, they have a surplus of renewable power, pre-zoned land areas and a competent workforce.” says CEO of Green Mountain, Svein Atle Hagaseth.
The site will be built and operated according to Green Mountain’s high sustainability standards. This includes everything from the use of renewable power, certified green buildings and potential heat reuse projects.
German data centre firm signs $1.1 billion debt facility
Frankfurt-based data centre operator maincubes has signed a new scalable finance facility of €1.035 billion (US$1.11 billion).
The new debt facility will further accelerate its growth strategy in a bid to become a leading European data centre operator, the company said.
The billion Dollar trancher is made up from €685 million (US$731.68) committed facilities with a further €350 million (US$373.85 million) uncommitted accordion made up from a consortium of eight banks and one institutional fund.
Maincubes, which is backed by DTCP and Art-Invest Real Estate, is currently in the process of planning and building new data centre facilities, with plans to scale operations in Frankfurt and establishing a presence in Berlin.
Equinix adds 225MW to its Spanish PPA base with five new solar projects
Digital infrastructure trust Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) has increased its backing of renewable power projects with the addition of five Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in Spain totaling 225 megawatts (MW).
Once operational in 2025, the projects are expected to generate more than enough power to match consumption at Equinix’s International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville, the company said in a statement.
The five new projects, along with existing projects, will bring Equinix’s contracted PPA capacity to 595 MW globally, which is estimated to generate nearly two million MWh annually.
Raouf Abdel, EVP of Global Operations for Equinix, said: “Equinix is committed to enabling the digital infrastructure that enriches our daily lives while minimising environmental impact.
Agility unveils multiple data centre sites across MEA
Agility Logistics Parks (ALP) confirms the launch of data centre campus sites in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and Ghana.
The new sites, the first of many, are being prepared at ALP warehousing complexes in fast-growing markets and mega-cities that are looking to add hyperscale data centre capacity and resolve data latency, security and compliance challenges.
“ALP is uniquely poised with a portfolio of ideal sites across the Middle East and Africa,” said Ronald Philip, senior director at ALP.
“We have a strong track record of development in challenging markets, a healthy balance sheet, and the in-house engineering capability to meet the technical specifications of hyperscale data centre operators. Based on feedback from several data centre operators, we believe we can support them and accelerate their deployment through our data centre campuses.”
Impulsa Galicia and Ingenostrum to partner on a €400m ‘carbon-neutral’ data center in Spain
Impulsa Galicia, a public-private partnership from the Galician local government, has selected Ingenostrum to partner with it on a €400m ($424m) carbon-neutral data center project.
Ingenostrum, a renewable energy specialist, has been asked to analyze the feasibility of a carbon-positive 15MW data center that could house data from Galician companies and institutions.
“The data center is one of the projects included in the Pole for the Transformation of Galicia, with which we are making progress in achieving a digital and sustainable economic model,” said Impulsa Galicia director Enyd Lopez. “We developed an innovative idea, we turned it into a tractor project and found it a technologist and investor so that it could prosper outside of our umbrella.”
Impulsa Galicia is backed by the Xunta de Galicia, a government decision-making body of the region, and is estimating that the project will need a total investment of €400m ($424m); €130m ($137.9m) of which will go on construction and the remaining €270m ($286m) on IT servers.
Diode Ventures and ENDEC planning data centers in New Clark City, Philippines
Two data centers are set to be built on the island of Luzon, the Philippines.
The Philippine News Agency said this week that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. “welcomed the planned establishment of two hyperscale data centers in Luzon.”
Infrastructure development firms ENDEC Development Corp. and Diode Ventures are the two parties looking to develop on the island, the largest in the country and home to Manila.
Endec Group is a Manila-based construction and engineering firm. Diode, a subsidiary of Black & Veatch, is a renewable energy project and data center developer. Diode is reportedly the development partner of ENDEC Development Corp.
Stack Infrastructure to raise $250m for data center expansion
Stack Infrastructure is planning to raise $250m to expand its data center footprint.
The financing will be raised from the Stack Infrastructure Issuer, 2023-1, through the securitization of revenue tied to lease payments and electrical capacity at eight wholesale data centers in seven US states.
According to the pre-sale report from S&P Global Ratings, the data centers are located in Portland, Oregon; Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; San Jose, California; New Albany, Ohio; and Sterling, Virginia. The data centers have a total of 1.917 million sq ft and 138MW of capacity.
The equity extraction is anticipated to be completed by the third week of March.
Keppel DC REIT secures $73 million in loan facilities
Keppel’s DC REIT group has secured more than $70 million in a new loan facility, guaranteed by financial services firm Perpetual.
“The Board of Directors of Keppel DC REIT Management Pte. Ltd., as manager of Keppel DC REIT, wishes to announce that a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel DC REIT, Keppel DC REIT Fin. Company Pte. Ltd., has obtained the Loan Facility guaranteed by Perpetual (Asia) Limited (in its capacity as trustee of Keppel DC REIT),” the company said this week.
The loan was for AU$30 million (US$20.2m) revolving credit facility.
It follows a similar announcement from the end of January when the same group of companies announced a new revolving credit facility of €50 million ($53.1m).
Megawide partners with Singapore firm to build $300 million data centre
Megawide Construction has signed a Shareholders’ Agreement with Singapore-headquartered digital infrastructure builder Evolution Data Centres (EDC) to design, build and operate a Php16.5 billion (US$300 million) data centre in the Philippines.
The project in Cavite is Megawide’s first investment in the digital infrastructure arena. The group is controlled by tycoon Edgar Saavedra, who also serves as its chairman.
At full build, the project is designed to reach 69MW of colocation capacity, with Phase 1 covering a 23MW deployment spread over five years inside a four-hectare property.
The transaction is subject to the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission, which is expected to be completed between March and May this year, and the completion of all closing conditions.