Data Center Investment News — 03/02/2023
Blackstone to cash out of Indian REIT to focus on data centre investments
Private equity giant Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) is reportedly in talks to cash out part of its stake in Embassy Office Parks, India’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT), in order to invest in data centres and retail properties.
The deal, which could raise up to US$480 million, is being discussed with private equity group Bain Capital, according to sources speaking to Reuters.
If consolidated, this would be Bain Capital’s first REIT investment in India. Bain Capital currently manages more than US$160 billion in assets globally.
The first source who had direct knowledge of the matter said the plan is to execute the transaction via block deals on Indian stock exchanges in the coming weeks, though a timeline or pricing has not been finalised.
Partners Group’s EdgeCore breaks ground in California
Privately held data centre operator EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure has broken ground on two data centres in Santa Clara, CA.
Upon completion, the – campus will support 72 MW of critical load across 540,000 square feet of space.
Utility power will be available at the site through Silicon Valley Power beginning in Q1 2024, the group said.
Jeff Dorr, President and Chief Financial Officer, EdgeCore, said: “EdgeCore entered 2023 poised for rapid growth and today’s announcement of our Silicon Valley campus ground-breaking is the exciting start to a busy year of development.
Hanwha Solutions, SKS Credit to build eco-friendly data centers
Hanwha Solutions Insight Division, a business unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SKS Credit, a local private equity fund specializing in ESG (environmental, social and governance), to develop eco-friendly datacenters.
Under the agreement, Hanwha and SKS will share their roles to further their joint investment.
Hanwha will discover and invest in projects such as eco-friendly data centers and logistics centers to be linked to renewable energy generation.
SKS Credit, in turn, will raise a capital worth 250 billion won ($203 million) to finance those investments while focusing on creating an optimized profit structure.
Web Werks & Iron Mountain DC Launch its First Greenfield Data Center in Navi Mumbai
Web Werks, one the leading data center hosting services provider in India, and Iron Mountain Data Centers (IMDC), a global provider of data center and colocation services, announced the inauguration of its first greenfield data center in Navi Mumbai named MUM-2.
The Web Werks and Iron Mountain global leadership teams, partners, and officials from the government authorities attended the inauguration ceremony, which was conducted in Rabale, Navi Mumbai, under the direction of William L. Meaney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Iron Mountain.
Despite obstacles brought on by global supply interruptions and COVID-19, the data center was constructed in less than 18 months after it was announced and covers a 120,000 sq ft campus.
The MUM-2 is a Tier 3-designated data center with a gross power handling capacity of 10MVA.
Data4 to launch data center campus in Hanau, Germany
French data center firm Data4 is to launch a new campus in Hanau, Germany.
Last year GIC-backed European logistics real estate firm P3 Logistic Parks announced plans for a large data center campus on the site of a former army barracks in Hanu, to the east of Frankfurt.
Data4 has now acquired the approximately 20-hectare site from P3 and is planning to build its own data center campus there. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Data4 CEO Olivier Micheli said: “The development of a sustainable and innovative data center campus in Hanau will benefit both the local and regional community. We at Data4 see great market opportunities in Germany, one of the leading nations in Europe in terms of digital infrastructure, and have high ambitions for the Hanau campus, which will eventually become one of the largest data center campuses in Germany and in Europe.”
Quarry company Luck Stone seeks to create 2 million sq ft data center campus outside Leesburg
Virginia quarry company Luck Stone Corp. is planning a new data center campus in the Ashburn area of Loudoun County.
BizJournal reports the company has applied to rezone some of its Ashburn landholdings for up to 2 million square feet (185,800 sqm) of new data centers.
Luck Stone submitted its application to Loudoun County earlier this month to rezone about 98 acres for the development of four data centers. The site sits just west of the company’s Leesburg Plant, between Cochran Mill Road and Sycolin Creek.
Luck Stone’s filed drawings indicate that 500,000 sq ft (46,450 sqm) new data center space would be built in the initial phase. A second phase would follow between 2030 and 2040, with a full build-out of up to 2 million sq ft.
Convergence Partners eyes digital infrastructure investments with new $300m fund
South African private equity house Convergence Partners has closed its Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) at US$296 million, surpassing its initial target by over 18%.
The closing of CPDIF represents the group’s largest fund to date, bringing total funds under management to more than US$600 million.
The close was backed by a combination of existing and new investors comprising leading global and regional development finance institutions (DFIs), pension funds and financial institutions based in Europe and Africa.
CPDIF was launched in June 2020 and had a first close of US$120m in July 2021. The Fund is focused on investing in digital infrastructure opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa.
Keppel DC REIT AUM reaches $3.7bn as it lines up extra acquisitions
Singapore-listed Keppel DC REIT (SGX: AJBU), whose market cap currently stands at S$3.51 billion, has posted is unaudited financial results concerning 2022.
The trust has reported gross revenues for the year of $277.32 million, up 2.3% on 2021, when it showed gross revenues of $271 million.
Distributable income (DI) grew 7.7% year-on-year to $184.9 million in FY 2022 as distribution yields increased 178bps from 3.99 in FY 2021 to 5.77 last year.
The growth in DI was due mainly to contributions from the accretive acquisitions of a London Data Centre, Guangdong Data Centres 1, 2 and 3, the investment in the NetCo bonds, the contributions post asset enhancement initiatives at DC1 and the Dublin assets as well as the completion of Intellicentre 3 East Data Centre.
Macquarie-backed Prime to build 124MW data centre in Europe’s Nordics
US-headquartered digital infrastructure operator Prime Data Centers has unveiled plans to expand its EMEA footprint to Denmark with a 124-megawatt campus.
Located at Energivej in Saeby, Prime Denmark will feature three hyperscale data centres and will be marketed to international cloud providers, Internet businesses, AI, and the Global Fortune 500.
The Saeby campus has been designed with waste heat recycling in mind which will be used to provide district heating from Saeby Heat Plant (SHP) to the local community. SHP will return chilled water to the campus.
Prime Denmark will be carbon neutral and powered by 100% renewable energy delivering a net-positive environmental impact, the group said.
Apollo, Elliot Investment inject $900m into Western Digital
Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) has announced a $900 million capital injection from Apollo Global Management and Elliott Investment Management L.P. through the sale of convertible preferred stock.
The move is part of Western Digital’s strategy to strengthen its position in the rapidly evolving data centre storage industry and to compete with other rival providers of data storage solutions.
The cash will be used to finance new acquisitions and investments, as well as to expand the company’s presence in key global markets. Western Digital plans to use the new capital to expand its data storage solutions, including its hard disk drive and solid-state drive products.
In addition to the capital injection, Western Digital has also announced the launch of a new data storage platform, which will enable customers to quickly and securely store and access their large data sets. The new platform will provide customers with a secure, scalable, and cost-effective way to store and access their data.
BDx planning new 16MW data center in Hong Kong
Pan-Asian data center firm Big Data Exchange (BDx) is to develop a new data center in Hong Kong.
The company this week announced its plan to develop a new 16MW facility in an upcoming high-tech industrial area being developed by Hong Kong property developer Sino Group.
Located in the heart of the Kwai Chung District, the new facility will be BDx’s fourth in Hong Kong and be called HKG8. The firm is targeting a go-live date for the facility by the end of 2023.
“BDx is pleased to announce our new data center to further our commitment to the Hong Kong market. We are pleased to work with Sino Group to develop our next-generation, hyperscale-ready site, which is designed with fail-safe features and a clear focus on sustainability,” said Mayank Srivastava, CEO of BDx. “With HKG8, our newest data center in Hong Kong, we continue to expand our footprint across Asia with sustainable, high-quality sites.”