Infratil is making its second big investment in as many days, purchasing a major stake in a United Kingdom-based data centre business.
Photo: 123rf
The infrastructure investor said it would spend between £120 million to £130m ($NZ235m and $NZ254m) to take a 40 percent interest in Kao Data, alongside current owners Legal & General Group and Gold Acre, which is part of the Noé Group, who would retain 30 percent shareholdings.
It comes after Infratil announced yesterday that it was purchasing a majority position in medical diagnostics firm Auckland Radiology.
"With global demand for connectivity continuing to rise, this is an excellent opportunity to expand our digital infrastructure portfolio and build on our successful data centre platform investment in Australia and New Zealand," Infratil chief executive Jason Boyes said.
"We were an early mover into this sector, acquiring CDC Data Centres in 2016, which has delivered exceptional performance.
"[Kao Data] is a rare opportunity to invest in one of the fastest-growing data centre markets in the world, alongside blue-chip partners," he said.
The trio of investors intends to grow Kao into a £500m ($NZ977m) dollars business in the medium term.
Kao Data had built one data centre on a 15-acre site north of London and construction on a second centre was due to start later this year.
The centres would be well located, Infratil said, sitting between the London and Cambridge innovation corridor, which is home to a number of technology and bioscience companies.
Kao's first data centre housed the most powerful supercomputer in the UK, providing computing capacity for healthcare giants such as AstraZeneca and GSK.
"Once fully developed, the campus will be home to four energy-efficient data centres, all powered by 100 percent renewable energy," the company said.
It had also recently signed an agreement to acquire two data centres with a long term lease from financial services firms.
"This purchase will enable Kao to deliver multi-site services for its clients and expand potential capacity to about 55 megawatts, while delivering long-term trusted operations for clients' mission-critical infrastructure," Infratil said.
Kao Data chief executive Lee Myall welcomed Infratil's investment and was excited about working with the company in the future.
"This investment presents a strategic opportunity to accelerate our mission of supporting the computing requirements of advanced industries, and to do so sustainably," he said.
Infratil would initially be a 20 percent shareholder but would reach its 40 percent target if Kao completes its acquisition of two data centres by the end of the current financial year.
It would fund the deal by drawing down on its billion-dollar war chest and bank facilities of $695m.