Data Center Investment News — 30/06/2022
Chindata Group snaps up US$500 million syndicated loan
APAC hyperscale data centre operator Chindata Group Holdings Limited has closed a US$500 million syndicated loan on June 24th.
The US$500 million facility has a 3-year tenor with a 2-year extension option.
Credit Suisse AG (Singapore branch) and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, INC acted as Original Mandated Lead Arrangers and Book runners. A total of 15 lenders participated in the facility.
Nick Wang, CFO of Chindata Group, said: “Despite ongoing volatile markets and the persistent COVID-19 situation, we have successfully secured our financing in a syndicated format. It reflects the attractive fundamentals of the Company and we have further diversified and strengthened our financing channels by having more trusted and strong banking partners on board.
Goldman Sachs-backed Elea Digital names ex-Equinix heavyweights to board
Edge data centre infrastructure platform in Latin American Elea Digital continues to expand its leadership team now with the addition of former Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) staff Frank Hassett and Crislaine Corradine.
Until 2019, Hassett was VP of EU Data Center Infrastructure at Equinix for more than 20 years. In addition to being Advisor to Elea Digital, he is also a board and advisory member to several data centre projects around the world including Europe, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Hasset is currently working on a total 157MW of IT load construction projects.
Elsewhere, before joining Elea Digital, Corradine was Head of Procurement in Equinix Latam, were she gained continent-wide knowledge in technology, communications and data centre infrastructure and services.
Aruba to open 800,000sqft Rome data centre in 2023
Italian hyperscale data centre operator Aruba said it intends to open the doors of Rome’s largest data centre development to date during the first quarter of 2023.
The project – dubbed IT4 – sits on a piece of land comprising 74,000 sqm or 796,500 sqft, and will see the the phased construction of five data centre buildings, each with 6MW of IT capacity.
The 30MW campus – once fully built – will be located in the Tecnopolo Tiburtino technical center, located to the East of the capital and outside Rome’s orbital motorway Grande Raccordo Anulare.
Green Mountain acquires data center in Romford, London
The parent company of Norwegian-based Green Mountain has acquired Infinity SDC Ltd, taking over a data center in Romford, East London.
The facility, and adjacent available land, will be operated by Green Mountain – its first data center outside of Norway.
Green Mountain was itself acquired by Israeli real estate firm Azrieli Group for $850 million last year. Azrieli acquired Infinity SDC, pending closing conditions, and will merge it into Green Mountain.
Two further sites in Warrenton, Virginia being offered for data centers
The town of Warrenton in Virginia’s Fauquier County could be set to see the number of data centers hosted there increase dramatically.
AWS is currently planning to develop a data center in the Northern Virginia town after local officials changed zoning laws to accommodate the hyperscaler’s plans. The company has filed to build an approximately 220,000-square-foot (20,400 sqm), single-story data center in Warrenton at the intersection of Blackwell Road and Lee Highway.
At least two other sites are being marketed as potential locations for data center developments in the town that could accommodate more than 1.3 million sq ft (120,000 sqm) of development across almost 60 acres.
Lincoln and Harrison Street break ground on New Albany technology and distribution park
Real estate and investment firms Lincoln Property Company (LPC) and Harrison Street have broken ground on a new development in New Albany, Ohio.
The two firms announced last month the acquisition of a 190-acre site to construct a multi-use technology and distribution park designed for industrial and data center users and operators.
CoStar reports that the companies have already broken ground on the new development, with the first buildings due for completion in 2023. The data center campus will be able to accommodate up to 1.2 million square feet (111,480 sqm) and 144MW of critical load designed specifically for hyperscalers and other major operators.
Indonesia, South Korea to build $100m Batam data centre
The governments of Indonesia and South Korea have entered into a cooperative agreement to develop a US$100 million data centre in Batam, in the Riau Islands.
Set to be entirely financed by Seoul, the National Data Center development in Nongsa will sit on a five hectares piece of land and answer to the demand for faster data transfers.
The “digital and interconnected data storage warehouse” facility is also said to be designed to be used by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo in its decision-making capabilities by speeding up access to data and data analytics tools.
DartPoints to expand South Carolina data centre footprint
Digital infrastructure provider DartPoints has announced an expansion and electrical upgrades at its Greenville, S.C. data centre.
The company is adding a power room and electrical service entrance area that can accommodate 17,000 additional square feet, while also updating electrical systems, including switchgear, generators and electrical distribution.
DartPoints’ Greenville data centre, located at 78 Global Drive in the city’s Global Business Park, is an enterprise-class facility with access to I-85 and I-385.
Scott Willis, DartPoints CEO, said: “This investment reinforces our dedication to continuing to serve as the colocation, cloud, security, and data backup leader in Greenville and the Upstate region.
New York-based private equity investment manager Angelo Gordon plans to redevelop the Tuen Mun building in Hong Kong’s New Territories, converting it into a 15 759 square metre (169 628 square foot), 20 MW data centre.
Mingtiandi reported on this development after sources familiar with the project revealed that Angelo Gordon had submitted a second redevelopment application in three months to the city’s Town Planning Board. In Angelo Gordon’s proposal, the firm had proposed to boost the maximum plot ratio of its Gemmy Development Industrial building to increase available space for the data centre.
Currently, the Tuen Mun building is nine-storeys tall and located at 3 Kin Tai Street, spanning around 1382 square metres (14 875 square feet).
H5 buys 505 Marquette in Albuquerque
H5 Data Centers has bought 505 Marquette, a carrier hotel in downtown Albuquerque, where it already operates data center space.
The 225,000 sq ft facility is a key New Mexico interconnection point with 20 on-site communications carriers and access to long-haul fiber. The building also contains office, retail and storage space.
“505 Marquette has long served as one of Albuquerque’s most interconnected access points,” said Josh Simms, founder and CEO of H5 Data Centers. “We have previously operated several data centers at the building as a tenant, but we look forward to growing our operations and expanding the building’s infrastructure as the owner in support of our growing customer base and IT infrastructure community.”
Quantum Loophole breaks ground on campus at Maryland gigawatt campus
Quantum Loophole, Inc. has begun groundwork on its gigawatt-scale data center campus.
The company this week broke ground on critical infrastructure supporting its Frederick site in Maryland. The initial scope of development includes power distribution and underground power ducts, water and sewer pump stations and piping, underground fiber distribution ducts, roads and entryways, and a variety of environmental projects including tree planting.
Led by former Terremark and CyrusOne executive Josh Snowhorn, Quantum Loophole has partnered with TPG Real Estate Partners (TREP) and is developing a 2,100-acre data center park around 25 miles north of Ashburn, Virginia, and across the state line on the former Alcoa Eastalco Works aluminum smelting plant.
Equinix, DigitalBridge, STT GDC lined up as suitors for Time Dotcom’s data center business
Potential suitors are lining up to assess and bid for Malaysian telco Time Dotcom’s data center assets.
Bloomberg reports that DigitalBridge, I Squared Capital-owned BDx, Stonepeak-backed Digital Edge, Temasek Holdings’ STT GDC, and Equinix Inc. are all potential bidders in the company.
The suitors are conducting due diligence on the assets, known as Aims Data Centre, as they weigh making binding offers that could be in the region of $500-600 million.
Most of the companies mentioned declined to comment. Malaysia is a potential future location for BDx facilities as the company looks to expand its footprint across Asia, said Braham Singh, chief executive officer of BDx, in response to a query from Bloomberg News.