Data Center Investment News — 02/12/2022
Infra investor Invesis enters UK data centre market with double acquisition
Infrastructure investor and developer Invesis has acquired UK-based Asanti Datacentres Limited as well as five edge data centre assets from communications and IT provider Daisy Group.
The acquisitions come as private equity investors continue to finance data centre development and acquisitions on the back of long-term demand and high returns.
The group is now the 100 per cent owner of Asanti and said it will support Asanti with their plans for growth and further development in the sector.
The deals, whose financial details were not disclosed, are Invesis’ first entry into the UK data centre market. Invesis advisers on the deal included Pinsent Masons, KPMG and DWPF.
India’s Kotak bank planning new $1 billion data center fund
The investment arm of India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank is launching a new data center fund.
Kotak Alternate Assets, managed by Kotak Investment Advisors Limited (KIAL) this week announced that it has appointed Subhamkar Das as Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead its new Kotak Data Centre platform.
Das will be a senior member of KIAL’s Alternate Asset Management team and will help build the data center practice at KIAL. Das joins Kotak from Airtel’s Nxtra data center unit, where he was VP and Head of Data Centre & Build.
Srini Sriniwasan, Managing Director, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited said: “At Kotak, we have always led the way in identifying new investment opportunities and invested in empowered teams to execute plans to meet our investors’ target expectations. Onboarding of Subhamkar will set the tone for Kotak Data Centre funds’ platform, as he will be adding strength & depth to the future plans and objective of building scale to our platform.”
CorScale to file for planning permission for 140MW data center campus in Iver, Buckinghamshire
CorScale, a new data center firm currently building a hyperscale campus in Virginia, is close to filing for planning permission for its first international facility in the UK.
Nic Bustamante, Senior Vice President at Corscale/Patrinely Group, told DCD last week that the company is “days away” from filing for planning permission for its first data center in the country, to be located outside London in Iver. The company is planning to serve hyperscale companies.
CorScale is planning a 140MW campus comprising two four-level buildings in Iver, Buckinghamshire. The Court Lane site is currently a 14-acre industrial estate, comprising a mix of occupiers from vehicle storage, scrap metal recycling and office uses. The site also includes a Grade II listed building (Iver Court Farmhouse) which is currently used as a multi-tenant office building.
“We have our site in London is at the outline consent stage, and we are days away from submitting to Bucks council for our outline consent plan, hoping to get approval from that,” Bustamante told DCD. He said that a “significant user” is interested in that site and looking to provide a letter of intent for it and it should be pre-leased soon. He notes, however, that the company is ‘several years’ away from starting development there.
Africa Data Centres to build first data center in Kigali, Rwanda
Africa Data Centres is building its first data center in Kigali, Rwanda.
Announced this week, the Cassava Technologies unit said the purpose-built facility will offer 2MW of capacity.
The company is due to break ground in the first quarter of 2023. The precise location or size of the facility were not shared.
“It is an exciting time for Africa Data Centres,” said Tesh Durvasula, the company’s CEO. “Our decision to build a data center in Kigali was an easy one, given Rwanda’s robust economic recovery post the Covid-19 pandemic and the Government of Rwanda’s focus on digital transformation.”
Equinix to build data center in Johor, Malaysia
Equinix is to build a new International Business Exchange IBX data center in Johor, Malaysia.
The company this week announced it would be investing an initial $40 million in its first facility in the country, to be called JH1.
Scheduled to begin operations in Q1 2024, JH1 will provide capacity for 500 cabinets across 1,960 square meters (21,100 sq ft) of colocation space.
Jeremy Deutsch, president, Asia-Pacific, Equinix, said: “Establishing a presence in Johor strengthens Equinix’s leadership position in Asia-Pacific within a strategic market such as Malaysia, one of the most requested markets in Asia-Pacific by our global customers.”
DigitalBridge drops out of $1.8bn Odata data centre business sale
US digital infrastructure investor group DigitalBridge (NYSE: DGBR), through its LATAM operator Scala Data Centers, has reportedly passed on the opportunity to acquire local provider Odata.
According to the Brazilian newspaper Estadão, Scala has opted not to acquire the business due to the high purchase price being asked by Odata’s owners which include Pátria Investments, through the Pátria Infraestrutura IV Fund, and CyrusOne, part of US-based KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
The newspaper adds that the sale of Odata is, however, close, and Pátria is expected to announce a winning bid soon valued at around R$10 billion (US$1.8 billion), nearly double of what was originally estimated when a business sale was first mentioned.
Digital Realty and Brookfield’s Ascenty, Equinix, Piemonte Holding – which is backed by Goldman Sachs and owns digital infrastructure businesses on the continent including Elea Digital -, are all said to have looked at the portfolio as well as other bidders.
DIF Capital Partners expands digital infrastructure team
Infrastructure fund manager DIF Capital Partners has expanded its European team with two new appointments to further develop its practice within the digital infrastructure space.
As a result, DIF has named Simon Rozas Head of European Digital Infrastructure based in London. He will be supported by Jan Angenendt, who joined DIF as a Director in Frankfurt in October.
Rozas has been tasked with leading the origination and investments in digital infrastructure across Europe. Previously, he worked at Cube Infrastructure Managers, where he led greenfield fibre projects across the continent for the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund.
His career includes over two decades of experience in investing, lending and investment banking at the EBRD, Citigroup and HSBC.
CDC completes $1.8bn refinancing and $209m capital markets issuance
Australian firm Canberra Data Centers has completed a US$1.8 billion refinancing.
Regional law firm Gilbert+Tobin (G+T) this week said it advised CDC Data Centres (CDC) on the AU$2.7 billion refinancing and upsizing of its debt facilities and its AU$308 million (US$209.4m) US Private Placement issuance, the first capital markets issuance for the group.
The bank debt transaction involved 15 lenders participating across multiple tranches ranging from two to seven years, whilst the placement provides long-term funding in 10- and 15-year tranches.
G+T said the new financing will provide CDC with ‘additional liquidity and funding certainty’ for its development pipeline, as well as improved flexibility for its operations.
Stack breaks ground on 36MW data center in Virginia’s Prince William County
Stack Infrastructure has broken ground on a new data center in Virginia.
The company this week announced the groundbreaking of its NVAL3 hyperscale campus in the center of Prince William County.
Delivery of the first 36MW building, known as NVA 13, is targeted for Q1 2024. The 40-acre site will add nearly 100MW of committed and scalable power from Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC).
“Expanding our presence in the heart of Prince William County represents a strategic approach of continuing to deliver scalable capacity where it matters most,” said Matthew VanderZanden, Chief Operating Officer of Stack Americas. “Powered with 100 percent renewable energy, Stack’s new campus offers a sustainable solution and allows our clients the ability to grow quickly in the world’s largest data center market.”