The Fund, which was oversubscribed and surpassed its initial target of $1.25 billion, will invest across four data infrastructure subsectors data centers, data transport, wireless access, and tech-enabled infrastructure, largely in North America.
“Since founding Digital Realty in 2001, GI Partners has always believed in the fundamentals that drive the digital economy, which is now essential to our daily lives,” said Rick Magnuson, founder and executive managing director of GI Partners.
“We are delighted to have a dedicated fund and experienced team led by Mark and Steve, which will build on and strengthen our long-standing position in the data infrastructure space.”
In addition, the team will be led by Steve Smith, the former CEO of Equinix and Mark Prybutok, an experienced data infrastructure investor.
“Technology and communications are the largest and fastest growing drivers of the global economy and the infrastructure that supports these sectors is critical to the operation of every business, government, and household in the developed world,” said Smith.
“The disruption we have all experienced in 2020 due to the global pandemic has only served to underline the importance of data infrastructure to everyone’s life.”
“A core thesis of our Fund is to invest in elements of infrastructure closer to the end-user that will support both existing needs, as well as the next generation of critical applications utilising 5G technology, private networks, the Internet of Things, machine learning, and other innovations,” added Prybutok.
The fund was started in January 2020 when it invested in DR Fortress, a data center business in Hawaii. Then in June 2020, the fund acquired Blue Stream Fiber, a high-speed broadband provider in Florida. GI Partners’ other exited investments in the IT infrastructure sector include; The Telx Group, The Planet, SoftLayer Technologies, ViaWest and Wave Broadband.
GI Data Infrastructure’s investor base represents 11 countries includes sovereign wealth funds, pensions, financial institutions, investment management firms, foundations, and family offices.
“We are grateful for the strong support of our investors, both our existing limited partners and the many new investors to GI Partners,” added Philip Yau, managing director of GI Partners.“
“We welcome the opportunity to be both a capital and thought partner in the data infrastructure space to our investors as well our portfolio companies.”
