Investment firms coming for the Kiwi telco’s assets
Investment firms are eyeing the data center assets of New Zealand telco Spark.
AFR reports at least three companies have thrown their hat into the ring to acquire 50 percent of the data center platform owned by Spark NZ, with The Australian noting potential interest from three more.
Kiwi telco Spark is officially seeking an investment partner for its data center portfolio. Reports suggest the portfolio could be valued at up to $NZ1.2 billion (US$710 million).
Stonepeak, Pacific Equity Partners, QIC, and Mitsubishi-owned Igneo Infrastructure Partners are all reportedly interested, with the latter three said to have made bids for the portfolio. Previous reports from the Australian have suggested BGH Capital and TPG Capital were looking at the company as well.
Further details on any bids are currently unavailable.
Spark’s data center footprint currently comprises around a dozen facilities totaling 22MW, with more than 100MW reportedly in development.
Spark's data center strategy comprises both large, centralized data centers such as those in Auckland (x3), Waikato, Wellington, and Christchurch (x3), alongside Edge locations in regional cities such as Hamilton, Tauranga, and Dunedin.
Aussie telecoms firm Telstra is understood to have considered an acquisition of Spark in recent years, but is understood to have passed on the opportunity.
The company recently completed the sell off of its Connexa tower unit. The telco sold its remaining ~17 percent in Connexa to investment group CDPQ for ~NZ$311m (US$184.1m) in February. Connexa is now equally owned by CDPQ and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
Part of Mitsubishi-owned First Sentier Investors, Igneo manages $16.5bn in mid-market infrastructure assets across Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The company has previously invested in New Zealand telco Tuatahi First Fibre and US data center firm US Signal.
QIC (aka Queensland Investment Corporation) is a Government-owned investment company owned by the Queensland Government. It has investments in real estate and infrastructure, including offices, shopping centers, airports, hospitals, and ports.
TPG owns the Quantum Frederick data center park in Maryland that counts Amazon, Aligned, and Rowan as customers.
Stonepeak is an infrastructure and real estate-focused alternative investment firm with more than $70 billion of assets under management. Including the recently launched Montera, Stonepeak’s data center investments span Cologix and CoreSite in North America; Digital Edge in APAC; and Cirion in Latin America. Its data center portfolio comprises more than 100 facilities and 500MW of capacity globally, with another 400MW+ in the development pipeline.
BGH Capital is an Australian private equity company established in 2017. Its two funds have raised more than AU$6bn.
Pacific Equity Partners is a private equity investment firm focusing on Australia and New Zealand. Founded in 1998, it has some AU$14 billion (US$9bn) in assets under management.
