ST Telemedia invests in VIRTUS Data Centres to help accelerate growth

VIRTUS Data Centres and ST Telemedia, a Singapore-based global investor focused on building and growing innovative communications, media and technology businesses, have announced a strategic investment to accelerate VIRTUS' business growth. Under the partnership, ST Telemedia, through its wholly owned subsidiary, STT GDC Pte Ltd. (STT GDC) will make a significant investment into VIRTUS committing to a 49 per cent stake via a Joint Venture with VIRTUS’ existing owner Brockton Capital. The new investment from ST Telemedia will be used to fund VIRTUS’ continued growth and footprint expansion in the UK.

Alongside Brockton Capital’s continued support and UK-focused real estate expertise, the new partnership will allow VIRTUS to leverage ST Telemedia's extensive data centre experience and expertise to strengthen its market position, accelerate growth and continue its mission to lead the industry. Already the fastest growing data centre provider in the UK, VIRTUS is driving revenue through its hyper efficient, ultra-high density and highly interconnected facilities. VIRTUS was recently noted by 451 Research Group as “one of the most innovative data centre providers around” and was shortlisted for the Data Centre Industry Leader Award at the Datacloud Awards 2015.

ST Telemedia has a track record of successfully building, growing and transforming businesses into market leaders with diverse investments and operations spanning the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas and Europe. It is a pioneer in data centres with experience dating back to the late 1990s when it introduced advanced internet exchange services into Asia. ST Telemedia launched i-STT in 2000 which was later merged into Equinix in the US. ST Telemedia was the largest strategic shareholder in Equinix, during which time, Equinix developed into one of the world’s largest carrier-neutral and advanced data centre companies. It has since divested its interest in Equinix.

Within ST Telemedia's portfolio companies, Level 3 Communications owns and operates over 350 carrier-neutral data centre facilities throughout North America, Latin America and Europe; whilst

GDS Services operates 17 high-availability carrier-neutral data centres in primary economic hubs across China. In March 2015, ST Telemedia announced its plan to develop a 150,000 square feet, high quality, state-of-the art flagship data centre facility in Singapore. The Singapore data centre will be carrier-neutral, offering customers a full suite of best-in-class, highly scalable data centre services including physical and virtual colocation, connectivity and infrastructure management which will also support the growth in the cloud services market.

Neil Cresswell, CEO, VIRTUS Data Centres said: "VIRTUS has experienced rapid growth in the last five years with increasing customer demand for our innovative and high quality services. The addition of ST Telemedia to our existing relationship with Brockton Capital will support our growth plans to expand our data centre footprint and services in key markets."

“It’s exciting to be forming a partnership with a global organisation with the pedigree and track record of ST Telemedia. Its experience and reach, in particular its growing Asian portfolio with the likes of GDS in China and its data centre platform in Singapore, will hugely benefit our customers.”

Sio Tat Hiang, Executive Director, ST Telemedia said: “We're pleased to continue the momentum of our recent data centre expansion activities with today’s announcement. ST Telemedia’s investment into VIRTUS is at a fitting time for Europe’s data centre market, particularly in the top-tier, carrier-neutral segment, where we’re seeing attractive growth opportunities. This investment is consistent with our international data centre strategy and is of strategic importance as it gives us a vital foothold in London, a key global tier-1 data centre market. The combination of ST Telemedia’s vast knowledge and expertise in the global data centre sector; Brockton Capital’s unique understanding and successful performance in the real estate industry and VIRTUS’ impressive operating track record and unique offering will bring numerous benefits to VIRTUS and its customers. We look forward to working with the management team of VIRTUS and Brockton Capital to support the company's growth.”