Data Center Investment News — 25/11/2022
Iron Mountain grows global footprint with EU, US data centre acquisitions
Data centre infrastructure operator Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) has expanded its footprint in the US and in Europe via the acquisition of real estate assets.
In North America, the group has purchased a 10-acre land parcel and 50+ MVA (expandable to 100+ MVA) substation in Phoenix, Arizona to develop a 36-megawatt, 230,000-square-foot data centre (AZP3).
The land is adjacent to Iron Mountain’s existing 39-acre campus that houses their AZP1 (41 megawatts) and AZP2 (48 megawatts) data centres. Phase one of the AZP3 expansion is expected to be delivered in 2024.
Rick Crutchley, Vice President & General Manager, North America, Iron Mountain Data Centers, said: “The Phoenix data centre market continues to see a tremendous amount of growth and we are pleased to be expanding our footprint in this robust market.
Digital 9 Infrastructure reshuffles board as execs exit business
Digital 9 Infrastructure plc (LSE: DGI9) said Thor Johnsen and Andre Karihaloo have stepped down from their roles as Head of Digital Infrastructure and Investment Director at Triple Point.
In a filling with the London Stock Exchange, the investor said the executives are leaving the business “in order to pursue other career opportunities”.
As a consequence, DGI9 has appointed Ben Beaton, Co-Managing Partner of Triple Point Investment Management LLP, DGI9’s investment manager group, to lead the digital infrastructure team at Triple Point and management of DGI9, with immediate effect.
Beaton played a role establishing DGI9 and in the development and operations of Triple Point’s digital infrastructure team. James Cranmer, Co-Managing Partner of Triple Point, will continue to support Ben and the wider investment team.
France’s Altice mulls $1bn data centre portfolio sell out
French multinational telecommunications group Altice France, part of Altice Europe, is reportedly working on selling a 92 data centre portfolio as the operator continues its efforts to offset its €20 billion debt.
The company expects to attract over €1 billion (~US$1 billion) with a potential sale and has mandated global independent investment banking firm Perella Weinberg Partners to find a suitable buyer, according to French newspaper L’Informé.
The data centre real estate is spread across France and includes some of the group’s largest facilities located in Bordeaux, Courbevoie, Rennes and Strasbourg.
Some of the assets are reportedly part of Altice’s subsidiary SFR, which operates at least 26 data centres in mainland France under the SFR Business brand.
Global Switch $10bn sale down to 3 final bidders
Global Switch Holdings Ltd. has reportedly narrowed down the number of bidders for its business to three in what is now lining up to be 2023’s first mega 11-digit data centre deal.
According to people familiar with the matter, buyout firms EQT AB, KKR & Co. and PAG Real Estate are the shortlisted trio weighing their bids for the London-based operator whose transaction value is expected to reach about US$10 billion, Bloomberg wrote.
The sources added that initial bids by other groups did not align with valuation expectations by Global Switch’s owners Jiangsu Shagang Group Co. and Avic Trust Co.
Previously mentioned names looking to snatch up either the whole business or part of it included Gaw Capital Partners, Stonepeak, Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, DigitalBridge Group, Digital Realty, Equinix, AustralianSuper, and NextDC together with Macquarie Capital.
AWS to Invest $7.5B on New Zealand Data Centers
Amazon Web Services intends to invest $7.5 billion in the construction of cloud computing data centers in New Zealand over the next 15 years.
The investment will establish a local AWS Region, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2024. The same actions that AWS customers can perform abroad can be performed by customers that need to store data locally.
According to Tiffany Bloomquist, AWS New Zealand country manager for the commercial sector, the substantial investment in IT infrastructure will boost local GDP by $10.8 billion and generate 1000 jobs over that period.
There are currently 81 availability zones in the 25 AWS regions the company runs globally, including one in New Zealand.
SC Capital Partners Pte Ltd (“SC Capital Partners”), a Singapore-headquartered private equity real estate fund manager, has announced the formation of a data center investment programme with a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (“ADIA”).
SC Capital Partners secured commitments for the new mandate from ADIA, with the ability to scale up over time to USD$2 billion of equity, it said in a statement. The programme targets data center investments across the Asia Pacific region with a primary focus on Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia. In addition, ADIA is investing into SC Capital Partners’ pan-Asian opportunistic investment strategy.
SC Zeus Data Centers will be the operating partner for the new data centre investment programme. The programme will also have the opportunity to invest alongside SC Capital Partners’ existing pan-Asian opportunistic strategy.
Suchad Chiaranussati, Chairman and Founder of SC Capital Partners said: “This new programme complements our existing pan-Asian opportunistic strategy and allows us to significantly scale up our data center capabilities and platform in the fastest developing data center region in the world.”
World’s Highest Cloud Data Center Launches in Tibet
Ningsuan Technology Group, a Tibet-headquartered company, has launched the world’s largest cloud computing center in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet’s autonomous region (China).
According to reports, 491 systems from departments at various levels of the region are presently receiving cloud services from the facility, which has a capacity for 3,000 racks.
Due to its location in Tibet’s Himalayan mountains, which is billed as “the world’s highest data center,” the overall project is said to encompass an area of 645,000 square meters (7 million square feet) and, when completed, will have numerous structures totaling 400,000 square meters (4.3 million sq ft).
The project’s execution started in 2017 and a contract for the provision of cloud services based on a high-mountain data center was struck between the Chinese juggernaut Alibaba and Ningsuan in 2018. Although the first stage of the data center’s construction was finished in 2020, its practical functioning has only recently started.
AWS New Data Center in Hyderabad Opens Door for 48,000 Jobs
Amazon Web Services has announced Hyderabad as its second infrastructure region in India, after Mumbai. The AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region will have three availability zones and provide clients with local infrastructure to satisfy regulatory and data residency requirements.
With an anticipated investment of INR 36,300 crore ($4.4 billion) in India by 2030, the new facility will begin operations with approximately 48,000 full-time employment possibilities annually.
AWS Hyderabad will give clients additional options and flexibility for secure data storage, more resilient workload execution, and faster service for end users when combined with the AWS Asia Pacific (Mumbai) Region.
As a result, businesses and startups, as well as institutions of higher learning and non-profits, will have more options for using Indian data centers to host apps and provide customer service.
Airtel’s Nxtra breaks ground on new data center in Kolkata
Nxtra Data has broken ground on a new data center in Kolkata, India.
The Bharti Airtel subsidiary this week said would invest Rs 600 Crore ($74.4m) in developing a 25MW facility in West Bengal, due to go live in 2024. The company said it was its first large-scale facility in eastern India.
According to the company’s website, the 150,000 sq ft (13,900 sqm) facility will be located in Kolkata’s Bengal Silicon Valley tech park in the east of the city, and offer capacity for around 1,500 racks.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by numerous government ministers and company executives.
Stonepeak next infra fund aims at $20bn for investment, including data centre targets
Private equity giant Stonepeak Partners is targeting between US$15 billion and US$20 billion for its next flagship North America infrastructure fund.
The capital is set to be utilised in new data centre investments as well as utilities, ports and railways, according to people familiar with matter speaking to Reuters.
The sources added that New York-based firm Stonepeak has already begun contacting investors to gauge their interest in the fund launch. The fund is expected to materialise in 2023.
The new fund follows on from the group’s latest vehicle which raised US$14 billion just nine months ago through the Stonepeak Infrastructure Fund IV (Fund IV).
Amazon acquires two data centers from State Street Corp in Massachusetts
Amazon has acquired two data centers outside Worcester in Massachusetts.
Citing Worcester District Registry of Deeds, the Worcester Business Journal this week reported that Amazon Data Services Inc. has purchased two properties in Worcester County, in Grafton and Westborough, from an affiliate of financial services firm State Street Corp. for a total of $26.7 million.
In Westborough, Amazon bought 600 and 800 Friberg Parkway for $11.6 million. The building at 600 Friberg, a State Street data center, spans around 99,150 square feet (9,200 sqm). 800 Friberg is currently greenfield land. The two lots are a combined 19 acres.
The 11-acre lot at 600 Friberg was last sold for $6.5 million in 1992, according to the Westborough Assessor’s Office.
Helios Investment Partners buys data centre shares in Africa
Private equity group Helios Investment Partners has entered into agreements to make two investments in Africa as capital inflow accelerates on the continent where cloud services usage continues to grow.
The firm will acquire majority stakes in Maroc Datacenter (MDC), a carrier-neutral data centre in Morocco and in IXAfrica Data Centre Limited, a developer and operator of hyperscale data centres in Kenya. Both transactions are subject to customary closing conditions. No financial details were released.
Launched in 2017, MDC operates in the Rabat metro area of Morocco. The location will add to Helios’ hyperscale data centre platform in the Rabat and Casablanca metro areas, serving global hyperscale, domestic enterprise and carrier customers.
Over in Kenya, IXAfrica, established in 2021, operates a location alongside the Mombasa Road in the nation’s capital, Nairobi.
DigitalBridge snaps up Malaysian data centre group for $440m
DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG) has acquired an ownership stake in AIMS Group (AIMS) from Malaysian telecoms firm TIME dotCom Berhad (TDC) (KLSE: TIMECOM) by funds affiliated with DigitalBridge Investment Management.
As part of the 2-billion-ringgit (US$437.64 million) transaction, TIME will sell 49% of the ordinary shares and 100% of the irredeemable convertible preference shares in AIMS Data Centre Holding, and 21% of the ordinary shares in AIMS Data Centre (Thailand).
TIME’s Commander-in-Chief Afzal Abdul Rahim said in the statement that part of the proceeds of up to 50% will be utilised to pay a special dividend of up to 1 billion ringgit to TDC’s shareholders. The rest will be funnelled into investing in the business.
The deal has landed AIMS with an enterprise value of 3.2 billion ringgit and compares to the 119-million-ringgit TIME paid to buy it in 2012, according to the company. AIMS’ current book value is 240 million ringgit.
AirTrunk breaks ground on TOK2 data centre in West Tokyo
AirTrunk has begun the construction of its 110+ MW data centre, AirTrunk TOK2 (TOK2).
The news was marked by ‘jichinsai’ or ground-breaking ceremony performed by a Shinto Priest, that includes rituals to spiritually purify the site before construction.
In attendance was Robin Khuda, founder & CEO of AirTrunk; Norihiro Matsushita, head of Japan at AirTrunk; AirTrunk executives from Sydney and Singapore including the deputy CEO, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, chief technology officer, chief safety officer and chief legal officer; and senior executives from Daiwa House, TEPCO and Obayashi who are working with AirTrunk on the development.
Announced in May of this year, TOK2 will support Japan’s digitalisation and the country’s acceleration to the cloud.