Investment into Verne Global data centre platform

RNS Number : 8491X

Digital 9 Infrastructure PLC

10 January 2022

 

10 January 2022

DIGITAL 9 INFRASTRUCTURE PLC

("D9", the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

$93 million follow-on investment into Verne Global data centre platform

In September 2021, the Company announced that it had completed the acquisition of Verne Holdings Limited (trading as Verne Global, "Verne Global"), a 100% renewable energy powered data centre platform in Iceland, operating on a former NATO site near Keflavik. The Company is pleased to announce that it has agreed to invest a further $93 million in Verne Global over the next 12 months to fund the expansion of capacity by a further 20.7 MW.  

Key highlights:

· This investment includes anticipated site expansion opportunities identified at the time of the acquisition of Verne Global and accelerated to meet higher than expected customer demand. The expansion includes the completion of a new 8.2MW data hall and a further 12.5MW of repurposed capacity for additional enterprise customer demand. 

· This additional capital expenditure will result in a total constructed capacity at the Keflavik site of approximately 40 MW out of a possible 100 MW at this initial site.

· The data hall currently under construction is anticipated to start generating revenue in Q3 2022, with the new developments expected to be completed and start ramping up in Q1 2023.

· Verne Global is one of the leading Nordic data centre platforms, delivering sustainable data centre solutions in a geographically optimal environment, with 100% of power delivered from local renewable sources (hydroelectric and geothermal) and delivering exceptional energy efficiency by making use of year-round ambient low temperatures for cooling.

· Verne Global is the partner of choice for leading global HPC players, supercomputing and enterprise customers which are seeking industry leading reliability and security, low cost and exceptional low carbon credentials.

D9's investment pipeline

The Investment Manager is progressing a pipeline of investment opportunities with an aggregate value of approximately £1.9 billion and anticipates updating the market on further investment activity in the near term.

Commenting on the Verne Global investment, Thor Johnsen, Head of Digital Infrastructure at Triple Point, said:

"Verne Global's data centre assets represent some of the cleanest, lowest carbon footprint data centres, globally. This follow-on investment to fund the expansion of the Verne facility, driven by capacity demand from both new and existing customers, will enable these customers to shift further toward their decarbonisation goals while addressing their growing digital needs. The investment also demonstrates our ongoing ability to deliver attractive and accretive contracted cash flow through our investment platform, a leading Nordic data centre business."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY, PLEASE CONTACT

Triple Point Investment Management LLP (Investment Manager) Thor Johnsen Andre Karihaloo	[phone]
J.P. Morgan Cazenove (Corporate Broker) William Simmonds Jérémie Birnbaum	[phone]
Akur Capital (Financial Adviser) Tom Frost Anthony Richardson Siobhan Sergeant	[phone]

LEI: 213800OQLX64UNS38U92

NOTES:

Digital 9 Infrastructure plc is an investment trust which invests in a range of digital infrastructure assets which help to deliver, inter alia, a reliable, functioning internet.

The Company's portfolio will comprise scalable platforms and technologies including (but not limited to) subsea fibre, data centres, terrestrial fibre, tower infrastructure and small cell networks (including 5G).

With its IPO in March 2021, to date, D9 has raised total equity of £750 million, investing the net proceeds into data centres and fibre networks:

· Aqua Comms, a leading owner and operator of 20,000km of the most modern subsea fibre systems - the backbone of the internet - with a customer base comprising the hyperscalers and global carriers (April 2021);

· EMIC-1, a partnership with a hyperscaler on a 10,000km fibre system from Europe to India (July 2021);

· Verne Global, one of the leading Nordic data centre platforms, delivering high intensity computing solutions to its enterprise customers in a geographically optimal environment, powered by 100% renewable power - one of the most efficient data centres in Europe (September 2021);

· SeaEdge UK1, a data centre and the UK's only landing station for the North Sea Connect subsea cable, part of the North Atlantic Loop subsea network, which includes D9's AEC-1 and AEC-2 cables, improving connectivity between the UK, Scandinavia and North America (December 2021)

The Investment Manager is Triple Point Investment Management LLP ("Triple Point") which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with extensive experience in asset and project finance, portfolio management and structured investments. The Investment Manager's digital infrastructure team has a proven track record of over US$3 billion of infrastructure investments and, in addition, benefits from a panel of digital infrastructure industry experts with deep knowledge, relationships and involvement in a combined US$250 billion of digital infrastructure transactions.

The Company is focused on the provision of Digital Infrastructure integrated with green and cleaner power in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 9: "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation".

The Company's Ordinary Shares were admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on 31 March 2021.

For more information, please visit  www.d9infrastructure.com .

About Verne Global

Verne Global delivers data centre solutions to leading enterprises, engineered for optimal high performance compute and built upon 100% renewable energy. Its clean grid and stable climate cuts costs and energy usage, and its expert team provides on-site, around-the-clock support to maximise performance and flexibility for customer workloads.

Founded in 2012, Verne Global's Icelandic data centre campus powers some of the world's most innovative and demanding industries, including financial services, earth sciences, life sciences, engineering, scientific research and AI.

 

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