The news comes after the French data centre operator announced today that it has secured a historic €620 million debt financing.
As the major native European colocation data centre player, DATA4 designs, develops and operates its own data centres. The Group provides its customers – including international cloud operators, major telecom operators, innovative tech companies and multinational corporations – with cutting-edge digital infrastructure and secure, high-performance data hosting solutions that are also environmentally conscious.
The coronavirus pandemic has also highlighted the resilience of the digital sector as a whole. It has triggered an acceleration in the process of digital transformation, and telecommunication networks have seen an extraordinary increase in traffic in recent months. Data centres represent one of the main pillars of the digital infrastructure and continue to play a crucial role in network stability and availability.
This additional €620 million financing will enable DATA4 to accelerate its responsible growth strategy in France and across Europe. In the current booming market, the Group also has ambitious targets of doubling its revenue over the next five years.
Boosting Power Capacity to 200MW
The Group plans to increase the power capacity of its Marcoussis Campus in south Paris from 100MW to 200MW, making it the most powerful data centre campus in Europe. It also intends to significantly increase the number of data centres on its existing campuses in Italy (Milan) and Spain (Madrid), and to also expand into Germany, Central Europe and Scandinavia.
The highly capital-intensive data centre market continues to grow, buoyed by the rise of digital platforms, the explosion in data volumes being exchanged, and the growing digital transformation and connectivity needs of businesses. The DATA4 Group experienced solid growth in 2020, which also saw the launch of its operations in Spain.
DATA4’s strong development is structured by an environmentally-responsible approach that is central to its innovation strategy. As a step toward making environmental responsibility a collective and conscientious process involving the entire sector, DATA4 has developed the Smart DC solution which uses specific indicators to measure the performance of IT equipment and infrastructures and optimise their environmental footprint.
“Despite new challenges linked to the pandemic, 2020 has made it clearer than ever what a critical role data centres play in keeping our society and our economy running smoothly. The digital market will continue to grow and drive profound changes in our society, and we intend to participate very actively in its development,” said Olivier Micheli, CEO of the DATA4 Group.
“This historic financing will help accelerate our growth and reinforce our role as Europe’s data centre champion. We’re excited to take on new challenges in 2021, a year which also marks the Group’s 15th anniversary!”
The €620 million financing was secured with Deutsche Bank, Société Générale and SMBC acting as joint arrangers, bookrunners and underwriters for the operation. This financing is a key component of the 2020-2024 strategy announced by DATA4 in May 2020, as it raised a significant amount of equity from a pool of investors led by AXA IM - Real Assets.
About DATA4 Group
Founded in 2006, DATA4 is a major European operator and investor in the data centre market. The Group finances, designs, constructs and operates its own data centres to provide its customers (international cloud operators, major telecom operators, innovative tech companies and multinational corporations) with secure, scalable and high-performance data hosting solutions that are also respectful of the environment. The Group operates the most powerful data centre campuses in Europe, and currently has 21 data centres across France, Italy, Spain and Luxembourg.
DATA4 boasts land and electrical resources unique within the European market (131 hectares and 209 MW available) to support its customers’ growth. Its infrastructure relies on high-quality design and an extremely diverse and scalable portfolio of services that adapt perfectly to its customers’ needs – from hosting a single rack to a dedicated building.
The DATA4 Group offers an innovative approach with its custom D4 Smart Datacenter solution, which allows customers to track the various performance and environmental indicators for their hosting spaces and equipment in real time (temperature, humidity, water and power consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions). In addition, the Group offers access to a rich ecosystem of partners and a full range of logistics and operational services, including connectivity to over 220 cloud destinations and telecom operators.
For more information: https://www.data4group.com
