Chennai, NFAPost: Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure-focused private equity firm, and a group of seasoned senior executives formerly with Equinix, Facebook, Tata Communications and Macquarie, have formed a diversified, independent data centre platform, Digital Edge, with a focus on acquiring and developing carrier-neutral data centres and related digital infrastructure assets across the Asia Pacific region, the company said.
Stonepeak, its investors and the Digital Edge management team have together made a $1 billion equity capital commitment to the platform.
Headquartered in Singapore, Digital Edge aims to deliver innovative data centre and interconnect solutions in order to make customer deployments easy in complex, evolving environment. The platform is led by CEO Samuel Lee, who previously served as President of Equinix’s Asia Pacific business from 2005 to 2019, and several individuals from his prior senior team at Equinix, including Kei Furuta, Andrew Rigoli and Jonathan Chou. They are joined by senior executives Jay Park, formerly with Facebook, John Freeman, formerly with Tata Communications, and Jonathan Walbridge, formerly with Macquarie.
Digital Edge also announced the closing of two initial investments in data centres in Japan, one of the platform’s key markets. The first is a partnership with Keihanshin Building Co. and Kanden Energy Solution Co., Inc. (Kenes – Kansai Electric Power group company) for the development of a 12MW facility in central Osaka that will serve a variety of customer needs. The second is a strategic partnership with ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation, beginning with their Mejirozaka Data Center in Tokyo. With these two transactions, Digital Edge will have an offering across the two largest data centre markets in Japan serving both domestic and international demand.
Stonepeak Senior Managing Director Brian McMullen said, “The Asia Pacific digital infrastructure market is among the fastest growing in the world, with demand continuing to outpace supply. We are delighted to partner with Samuel and his team, who bring unparalleled experience and an exceptional track record of development, and are investing in Digital Edge to help us achieve our shared vision for the region.”
Stonepeak has been an active investor in digital infrastructure, with multiple investments across the data centre, fiber and wireless space. Stonepeak is the majority owner of Cologix, a leading carrier-neutral data centre platform in North America, with 30 prime interconnection hubs and four hyperscale facilities, and euNetworks, delivering high bandwidth connectivity in Europe, with deep fiber networks in 17 cities and a long-haul network spanning 15 countries.
Earlier this year, Stonepeak announced the acquisition of Xplornet Communications, the leading provider of broadband connectivity in rural Canada. Over the past three years, the firm has established a presence in Asia Pacific and has been active in infrastructure investments across multiple sectors.
Digital Edge CEO Samuel Lee said, “We are very excited to partner with Stonepeak and to have completed the initial capacity acquisitions to fulfill our vision of bridging the digital divide in the Asia-Pacific region. The transactions in Tokyo and Osaka give the platform a dual footprint offering to customers in Japan’s two primary data centre markets.”
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners is an infrastructure-focused private equity firm headquartered in New York with $25.2 billion of assets under management. Stonepeak invests in long-lived, hard-asset businesses and projects that provide essential services to customers, and seeks to actively partner with high-quality management teams, facilitate operational improvements, and provide capital for growth initiatives.
