Vantage Data Centers has secured new financing to fund its expansion across Europe and Africa.
Ares Management's Infrastructure Debt and Alternative Credit strategies, CDPQ, and Schroders Capital's Private Debt and Credit Alternatives team announced this week that they have agreed to provide up to €750 million ($813m) in financing to Vantage to expand the company's EMEA platform.
Ares and CDPQ are providing up to €300 million ($325,3m) respectively, and Schroders Capital is contributing up to €150 million ($162m).
Proceeds of the financing, alongside incremental equity, will support the growth of Vantage EMEA's data center portfolio.
"With the unprecedented scale that we are seeing with high-performance computing, including AI, and digital transformation through cloud adoption, Vantage is well positioned to continue expanding our footprint with high-quality and sustainable data centers to keep pace with customer demand," said Nick Haslehurst, CFO of Vantage Data Centers, EMEA.
Vantage’s EMEA footprint is currently comprised of 14 campuses across Europe and South Africa, including London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Milan, Warsaw, Zurich, Cardiff, Dublin and Johannesburg. Once fully developed, the portfolio aims to generate 751MW of combined IT capacity.
"We are pleased to support Vantage in their next stage of growth, delivering mission-critical digital infrastructure across EMEA in a sector experiencing significant demand," said Roopa Murthy, head of Ares Infrastructure Debt Europe.
"This innovative financing demonstrates Ares' ability to deliver a scaled solution to a high-quality platform with robust cashflow characteristics," said Eli Appelbaum, co-head of Ares European Alternative Credit.
Founded in 1997, California-based Ares has more than $300 billion of assets under management. In 2022, EdgeConneX secured more than $1 billion in sustainability-linked debt financing from funds managed by Ares Management Corporation’s Infrastructure Debt unit. Canadian pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (aka CDPQ) has previously invested in Canadian operator eStruxture. Schroders Capital has more than $93 billion in assets under management
"As AI adoption and the demand for cloud capacity continue to accelerate, Vantage has developed a market-leading position through a diversified global platform of data center campuses," said Marc Cormier, EVP and head of fixed income, CDPQ. "This additional flexible capital will fuel Vantage's strategic capabilities in Europe and builds on CDPQ's track record in the telecommunications and digital infrastructure sectors. We remain committed to investing in the growth of critical digital infrastructure, which forms the backbone of interconnected economies while generating long-term value."
Vantage was acquired by DigitalBridge in 2017, and the company expanded into Europe in 2020 with the acquisitions of Etix Everywhere and NGD.
DigitalBridge first announced it intended to sell a minority stake in Vantage in March 2023, and in April 2023 formed an investment consortium for Vantage EMEA operations featuring MEAG and Infranity. Late last year AustralianSuper invested €1.5 billion ($1.6bn) in Vantage EMEA. This week saw Silver Lake and DigitalBridge invest $6.4 billion into Vantage Data Centers.
The company recently looked to raise £600 million ($751m) in securitized funding against its Cardiff data centers.
"The digitization of our lives has made us increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure. This investment reflects our commitment to supporting transformative projects in the digital infrastructure space, where we have demonstrated our expertise in providing long-term financing solutions for critical infrastructure," added Augustin Segard, co-head of infrastructure debt investments and fund manager at Schroders Capital. "We are excited to contribute to the growth of Vantage EMEA's high-quality portfolio to help it meet the increasing demand for data centers, while generating long-term value for our investors."
