Chinese data center firm GDS has upsized a $1 billion funding round in its international unit by a further $200 million to fuel its international expansion.
In October, GDS announced its Singapore-based international affiliate, DigitalLand Holdings Limited (aka GDS International) secured $1 billion in funding, led by Coatue Management with "substantial participation" by the Baupost Group, via the issuing of new shares.
This week the company said the company had entered into amendments to those share agreements. As a result, the new issue has been upsized from $1 billion to $1.2 billion, at the same pre-money equity valuation.
The upsize was mainly committed by new investors, including the SoftBank Vision Fund and Kenneth Griffin, CEO of Citadel. The Series B new issue is expected to close by the end of this year.
Jamie Khoo, CEO of GDS International, said: “We are delighted with the strong investor support for our Series B new issue, which enables us to upsize and add renowned new investors to our shareholder base. The success of this equity raise underscores the strength of GDSI’s vision and strategy. This additional funding will enable us to accelerate our plans to create new data center markets and to deliver state-of-the-art digital infrastructure solutions.”
Established in 2022, GDS International holds GDS’ data center assets and operations outside of mainland China. Its portfolio currently comprises approximately 480MW of data center capacity in service and under construction and an additional 590MW held for future development across sites in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia (Johor), Indonesia (Batam), and Japan (Tokyo).
Update: A GDS representative reached out to say that Singapre-based GDSI is due to undergo a formal rebranding and launch as an independent entity and has been "operating with financial and operational independence for quite some time now."
Together with its existing equity, GDS previously said the raise would enable the development of up to 1GW of data center capacity.
GDS was set to own approximately 37.6 percent of the equity interest of GDS International after the initial $1 billion raise.
GDS was founded in 2006 and operates dozens of data centers across Greater China, including in Suzhou Kunshan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing. STT GDC and Hillhouse are existing investors in GDS.
Reports that GDS sought $1 billion in investment in its international data center unit surfaced in August. In March of this year, GDS raised $587 million for its international data center unit. This was announced just days after the company confirmed that it was looking to sell a stake in the unit.
GDS announced its Q3 2024 results last month. The company posted net revenues of $422.6 million, a net loss of $32.9 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $184.6 million.
The company has 647,468 sqm of area in service (74.4 percent utilized, 92.7 percent committed) and 234,741 sqm under construction (79.2 percent committed).
“In the third quarter of 2024, we delivered solid performance across key strategic fronts,” said William Huang, chairman and CEO of GDS. “In China, the accelerated move-in trend continued, as we executed our strategy of delivering the backlog while being selective on new orders. Internationally, our recent equity raise is a major step forward, and positions us well to capture the tremendous opportunities for growth in the international markets.”
