Investment boost for high-performance data centre brand

Kao Data, the specialist developer and operator of high-performance data centres for enterprise, cloud, HPC and AI, has announced that leading infrastructure investment firm, Infratil, and Legal & General Capital, have increased their equity stakes in the company.

Infratil will now hold a majority stake of 53%, Legal & General Capital will hold 32%, and Goldacre NOÉ Group, Kao Data’s founding investors, will hold 15%.

Since 2021, Infratil Ltd and Legal & General Capital have together invested in Kao Data, growing the company from a single data centre developer/operator to a multi-site platform.

Earlier this year Kao Data unveiled plans for a new 40 megawatt (MW) data centre in Greater Manchester, a development that represents an investment of £350M and aims to create a leading infrastructure hub to support the city region’s growing technology, AI, and scientific research ecosystems.

The new shareholdings will provide streamlined ownership and additional funding for Kao Data’s growth – accelerating its plans to scale across the United Kingdom, including the North West, and underpinning its mission to provide customers with world-class and sustainable, high-performance data centre infrastructure.

Vincent Gerritsen, Head of UK & Europe for Morrison & Co, Infratil’s manager, said: “Increasing our shareholding in Kao Data is in line with our strategy of investing in ’ideas that matter’ and continues our active support to scale the platform through contributing our extensive data centre experience. With the expanding presence of artificial intelligence and its transformative impact on key technological and digital thematics at a global scale, increasing Infratil’s Kao Data stake demonstrates our confidence in the sector’s prospects.”

“Society’s digital infrastructure needs will only continue to increase, and meeting these needs will unlock productivity, innovation, and economic growth locally and internationally,” said Matteo Colombo, Managing Director of Strategic Private Capital Investments at Legal & General Capital. “Legal & General are enthusiastic to support this as an active shareholder of Kao Data on its continuing exciting growth journey, having successfully grown from a single site since investment to now four sites.”

David Bloom, Partner, Goldacre NOÉ Group and Chairman, Kao Data commented: “This moment marks an important next step in the Kao Data journey. With Infratil and L&G raising their stakes in the business, we are well-positioned for the growth opportunities presented by the data centre market, including the exploration of opportunities across Europe. The founder investors had a clear vision for this business, and their continued presence as shareholders gives confidence about our ability to realise the potential of Kao Data.”

Spencer Lamb, Chief Commercial Officer, Kao Data added: “Technologies such as GPU-powered generative AI and high-performance computing are driving transformative change across the sector, and it’s vital we continue to build out the Kao Data platform to the highest standards of performance, energy efficiency and sustainability, while retaining our position as one of the world’s leading data centre providers for advanced computing.”

“With our new capital structure and the ongoing support of our large, institutional investors, we believe Kao Data is perfectly placed to underpin the next wave of hyperscale and artificial intelligence innovation during a time of exponential growth in digital infrastructure. The shareholding change enables us to move quickly on our proposed development of a new high-performance data centre in Greater Manchester, and will support the region’s position as one of the fastest-growing technology and economic hubs in the UK.”

For further information about Kao Data’s high-performance data centre platform, visit the website.