Matterhorn Capital, the property investment vehicle run by Anthony Lyons and Simon Conway, is entering the data centre market with a £250 mln (EUR 278 mln) investment in two sites in south-east England. The acquisition is an attempt by Matterhorn Capital to tap into this growing niche market, which is forecast to record an over 50% increase in annual global spending by corporates in the next 10 years.
Matterhorn Capital, the property investment vehicle run by Anthony Lyons and Simon Conway, is entering the data centre market with a £250 mln (EUR 278 mln) investment in two sites in south-east England. The acquisition is an attempt by Matterhorn Capital to tap into this growing niche market, which is forecast to record an over 50% increase in annual global spending by corporates in the next 10 years.
According to research issued by Microsoft, annual global spending in data centre construction is forecast to increase from circa $50 bn today to about $78 bn by 2020.
The sites in Bury Green, Hertfordshire, and Chesham, Buckinghamshire, will house over 180,000 sq ft (16,700 m2) of data hall space and will showcase the latest design of data centres in Europe, strengthening the UK's position as the data centre capital of Europe. Matterhorn Capital's investment in the sites at Bury Green and Chesham represent the first major UK spend on new data centre construction for the wholesale market in the London area during the last 18 months. Both new data centre sites have full planning consent.
Matterhorn Capital is a privately-owned business established in 2004. The investments at Bury Green and Chesham, made through the company's data centre arm, MCDC, further extend the portfolio beyond leisure, retail, commercial, and residential development and into the growing data centre market. These investments follow Matterhorn Capital's disposal of Earls Court and Olympia to Liberty International and Liberty in 2009.
