Vantage Data Centers is expanding its EMEA platform with €750m financing from Ares Management, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Schroders Capital.
Ares’s infrastructure debt and alternative credit strategies and CDPQ are providing up to €300m each, together with a €150m contribution from Schroders Capital in financing, alongside incremental equity to help Vantage grow its EMEA data centre portfolio.
At present, the Vantage EMEA portfolio comprises 14 campuses, serving key markets in Europe and South Africa. Once fully developed, the portfolio aims to generate 751MW of combined IT capacity.
Roopa Murthy, head of Ares infrastructure debt Europe, said: “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.”
Eli Appelbaum, co-head of Ares European alternative credit, said: “This innovative financing demonstrates Ares’ ability to deliver a scaled solution to a high-quality platform with robust cashflow characteristics.”
Marc Cormier, EVP and head of fixed income at CDPQ, said: “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.”
Augustin Segard, co-head of infrastructure debt investments and fund manager at Schroders Capital, said: “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.”
Nick Haslehurst, CFO of Vantage Data Centers EMEA, said: “Vantage appreciates the support of Ares, CDPQ and Schroders Capital to enable our strategic growth across EMEA.
“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 centres to keep pace with customer demand.”
In January, funds managed by DigitalBridge and Silver Lake led a $6.4bn (€5.9bn) investment into global hyperscale data centre campuses provider Vantage Data Centers.
Vantage Data Centers said at the time that the equity investment, in addition to a previously announced €1.5bn to be invested by AustralianSuper in Vantage EMEA will help accelerate and extend the firm’s “strategic capabilities across North America and EMEA”.
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