Digital 9 Infrastructure: D9 Infrastructure buys landing station and data center in Newcastle for £15 million

Dec 14, 2021 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji

Digital 9 Infrastructure (D9) has completed the acquisition of a subsea fiber landing station and a Stellium-operated data center in Newcastle, UK. D9 revealed that it bought SeaEdge UK1 for £15 million. Interestingly, the site has a 10.6MW capacity data center. Besides, SeaEdge UK1 is the only landing point for the North Sea Connect cable in the UK. The data center D9 acquired with the subsea fiber landing station is currently operated by Stellum Data Centers. Stellium has a 25-year occupational lease with 24 years remaining on the data center.

Digital 9 Infrastructure is managed by Triple Point Investment Management. The company raised £300 million ($422.9 million) in IPO earlier in March. In September, it also acquired Verne Global, an Icelandic data center firm, for £231 million ($320m). Head of digital infrastructure at Triple Point, Thor Johnsen, said the company is pleased with its recent acquisition as Data Centers are an integral part of its digital infrastructure backbone.

Digital 9 Press Release:

D9 is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of a data centre asset and subsea fibre landing station, SeaEdge UK1, on the UK's largest data centre campus in Newcastle for a purchase price of £15m1. The asset forms part of the Company's pipeline identified in the IPO prospectus and delivers on the Company's landing station data centre strategy.

Key highlights:

· £15m1 acquisition of a data centre and subsea fibre landing station asset, SeaEdge UK1, with capacity of 10.6MW and a direct connection to the 275KV National Grid ensuring a highly resilient electrical supply of up to 80MW.

· The asset is occupied, and operated, by data centre operator, Stellium Data Centers Limited ("Stellium"), via a 25-year occupational lease, with over 24 years remaining. The rent received under the lease will deliver an attractive yield to D9, and is subject to annual, upward-only inflation-linked rent reviews.

· SeaEdge UK1 is the UK's only landing point for the new North Sea Connect cable, part of the advanced North Atlantic Loop fibre optic cable network, which hosts AEC-1 and AEC-2, both owned and operated by D9's cornerstone subsea fibre platform, Aqua Comms. The presence of Aqua Comms and its knowledge of the asset will deliver synergies for the wider portfolio and reaffirms D9's wider strategy of bridging the connectivity divide (in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 9), leveraging D9's subsea fibre platform to build a vertically integrated portfolio of digital infrastructure investments.

· SeaEdge UK1 is also the landing station for the NO-UK subsea cable, connecting Altibox Carrier's Norwegian network to the North East of England, and onwards.

· In addition to being a subsea landing station, the data centre hosts several Tier 1 carriers and a leading technology company.

D9's pipeline

In addition to the SeaEdge UK1 acquisition and its related expansion opportunities, the Investment Manager has identified a further £1 billion pipeline of investment opportunities over the next 6 months.

Commenting on the SeaEdge UK1 transaction, Thor Johnsen, Head of Digital Infrastructure at Triple Point, said:

"Data centres form a key part of the digital infrastructure backbone. We are pleased to support the Stellium operations through our ownership of the SeaEdge UK1 asset. Stellium offers customers robust transatlantic and intra-Europe connectivity, as well as access to the Newcastle Internet Exchange (NCL-IX). This level of connectivity is key in delivering on D9's strategic ambition and bridging the connectivity divide.

We are thrilled to add SeaEdge UK1 to the growing D9 portfolio and look forward to updating investors on further opportunities in due course."

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