Data Center Investment News — 22/07/2022
Microsoft VP of Cloud Infrastructure Lease leaves for GLP
Another executive has departed from Microsoft Azure, this time joining Singapore-based investment manager GLP.
Jennifer Weitzel left her role as Microsoft’s vice president of Cloud Infrastructure Lease and M&A this month to become the president of GLP’s global data center business. This remit appears to include every market except China.
Weitzel spent a year and five months as the Microsoft VP, but before that was the company’s GM of Cloud Infrastructure Acquisitions, Portfolio and M&A for a year and seven months. Ahead of that, she was the GM of Data Center Supply Chain and Cloud Operations & Innovation Strategy for three years and two months.
Prior to her time at Microsoft, she spent nearly eight years at Digital Realty, including as the SVP of Commercial & Global Supply Chain and as the Senior Director of International Design and Construction.
Microsoft files for permit to build data center campus in Mecklenburg County, Virginia
Microsoft has filed for environmental permits to build three data center buildings at a greenfield site in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.
The district commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers has received a joint permit application for federal and state permits from Microsoft for its Hillcrest Site Data Center. The project site is located on a 132-acre site at 210 Tunstall Road, in Southern Virginia’s Mecklenburg County. The site is north of South Hill and between North Mecklenburg Avenue and I-85.
According to the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Norfolk District Website, Microsoft Corporation proposes to construct three data center buildings, a substation, road, utilities, and stormwater management facilities.
AWS acquires three more office properties in Sterling, Virginia; likely for data centers
AWS has acquired three office properties in Sterling, Virginia, for more than $30 million. It is the third acquisition of a low-rise office property the company’s data center unit has made in Sterling this year, with all three sites located within walking distance of one another.
BizJournal reports, via county records, that Chantilly-based commercial real estate firm Clarke-Hook Corp. sold three adjacent buildings in Sterling to Amazon Data Services Inc. on June 15 for nearly $30.8 million total.
The Loudoun Commerce Center buildings are located at 45965, 45969, and 45975 Nokes Blvd in Loudoun County. The three buildings total more than 170,000 sq ft (15,800 sqm) across almost 15 acres. The company hasn’t commented on the purchase or plans, but Nicola Magley, an employee of the Newton School, a private, non-profit education institution at 45965 Nokes said the school has been told the building will be converted to a data center.
Keppel data centre fund adds another $292m for China expansion
Keppel Data Centre Fund II LP (KDCF II) has entered into a strategic partnership with Heying, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tianjin Zhengxin Group Co., Ltd to jointly develop a greenfield data centre in Greater Beijing, China.
This latest development marks Keppel’s sixth project since entering mainland China’s data centre market in 2020.
KDCF II, managed by Alpha Investment Partners Limited (Alpha), which is the private fund management arm of Keppel Capital, will acquire a majority stake in Huailai Data Centre and jointly develop the property with Heying.
The total development cost of the project is approximately RMB 1.4 billion (S$292.0 million). In addition, Keppel Data Centres will collaborate with Heying to implement global best practices for data centre operations at Huailai Data Centre.
Berkshire Partners invest $215m in Middle Eastern underground data centres
Private investment firm Berkshire Partners has carried out an investment to buy 49% of Israeli data centre platform MedOne as the nation’s cloud and colocation market continue to attract consumers.
The round, valued at US$215 million and described as a “significant growth investment”, also saw the participation of the van Rooyen Group, alongside majority shareholder Taavura.
With this new investment, MedOne enjoys a market valuation of US$436 million and has plans to expand its data centre portfolio to meet growing demand. Shay Livnat, Chairman of MedOne, said: “We are proud and excited to welcome our new partners to the Israeli market.
“We are grateful to Berkshire Partners and Grant van Rooyen for their trust and deep engagement and are excited about the expertise they bring from over a decade of investing and operating across global markets in North America and Africa.
Hong Kong grants ESR permission to convert cold storage warehouse to 40MW data center
Logistics real estate firm ESR Cayman Limited ESR has received planning permission to convert convert a cold storage facility in Hong Kong into a 40MW data center. The Hong Kong Economic Times reported the Town Planning Board this month announced that the project will be approved under certain conditions.
The brownfield site is a 15-story building occupying a 3,214 sqm (34,600 sq ft) plot. The development would see seven floors of data halls installed, while the remaining floors would contain a mixture of office, E&M, generator, cooling, and water treatment spaces. The renovation would add around 2,450 sqm (27,370 sq ft) of space to the ground and lower ground floor, taking the total floorspace to around 32,700 sqm (352,000 sq ft).
ESR acquired the building in May 2021, saying it planned to convert a newly-bought asset into a 40MW data center. The company reportedly bought the facility from the family of the late local tycoon Tang Shing Bor for $230.8 million. The company filed for planning permission in November last year.
Sabey breaks ground on new data center in Round Rock, Texas
Sabey Data Centers has broken ground on a new data center campus in Round Rock, Texas. The company this week began construction on the new 40-acre site, which will span 430,000 square feet (40,000 sqm) across two buildings and provide up to 72MW at full build-out. The company is looking to launch the site in Q2 2023.
“This new market expansion reinforces the continued demand for digital capacity and is an exciting time for the Sabey organization,” said Jeffrey Kanne, President and CEO of National Real Estate Advisors and Vice Chairman of Sabey Data Centers. “We look forward to deploying additional capital to support Sabey’s efforts in the booming Austin tech hub.”
Round Rock officials first announced Sabey was coming to the Austin area in February 2022, saying the company intended to demolish the old Sears Teleserv building located at 1300 Louis Henna Blvd. The company officially announced the development in April.
Stack acquires land next to Hillsboro, Portland campus
Stack Infrastructure has acquired more land in the Hillsboro area of Portland, Oregon, and announced plans to expand one of its campuses in the city.
The company this week announced the expansion of its flagship Portland campus to 200MW, taking its total capacity in Portland to 230MW at full build-out. The ‘contiguous campus expansion’ land acquisition nearly doubles the campus footprint to a total of 50 acres. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Stack has three sites in Hillsboro. While it doesn’t name the campus, Stack makes reference to the fact the newly-expanded campus is adjacent to PGE’s Shute Substation; the POR03 site is located on the same road and is the only one of the three sites with future builds planned.
Update: Stack has confirmed to DCD the POR03 campus is the one being expanded, with the company acquiring land to the west of the existing site.
Stoneshield looking to sell stake in XData to fund 100MW Madrid campus
Spanish data center developer Xdata is looking to sell a stake in the company in order to help fund the development of its 100MW campus in Madrid. Cinco Dias reports that XData’s parent company Stoneshield Capital has commissioned Morgan Stanley and CBRE to search for an investor.
XData Properties was set up by Stoneshield in 2021. Its portfolio currently consists of a data center in Madrid bought from Spanish IT firm Indra in 2021 for a reported €40 million. The seller, Indra, is Spain’s largest IT group, and will remain as a tenant for one year (extendable to 18 months) while it finds new accommodation for its resources there.
The company reportedly aims to invest around €750 million ($768.3m) developing the former Indra site into a 100MW campus known as the San Fernando Park.
C5 Capital invests in digital infrastructure group Cassava Technologies
Africa’s digital infrastructure player Cassava Technologies (Cassava) has secured a US$50 million investment from venture capital firm C5 Capital (C5) as part of a broader funding round to accelerate the business’ growth.
The investment by C5 is part of a wider US$500 million Cassava intends to raise with proceedings set to be used to expand the London-headquartered player’s footprint and portfolio across Africa including cyber security, satellite and space technology and clean energy developments.
C5 and Cassava have previously announced a joint venture through which Haven Cyber, a C5 portfolio company and Cassava will scale Microsoft’s suite of cybersecurity products across Africa to help fight cybercrime. Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Executive Chairman of Cassava Technologies, said: “This investment from C5 is part of our plan to raise additional growth capital whilst diversifying our investor base.
“We are delighted that C5 has joined us to help realise our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind”.do Park.