UBS has acquired UK data center firm Datum Datacentres.
UBS Asset Management Real Estate & Private Markets has acquired a 100 percent stake in the company from Darwin Private Equity, and said it will pursue site expansion and opportunities.
Datum operates the Datum FRN1 facility in the QinetiQ Cody Technology Park in Farnborough, located outside London. The 40,000 sq ft (3,716 sq m) facility was built by KeySource in 2012 and uses adiabatic cooling which the company said allows it to achieve a PUE of 1.25. The company has signed Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) to offset its energy use.
“Datum is delighted to welcome UBS Asset Management as a long-term investor in the business,” said Dominic Phillips, CEO at Datum Datacentres. “This provides certainty to our clients & business partners as well as ratifying the client-centric approach we take in all we do, whilst supporting our ambitions for the development of our operations.”
The deal marks the second data center investment UBS has made this year. In June the firm provided €50 million ($61.1 million) in funding to the Lefdal Mine Datacenter to support the expansion of the data center beyond its existing 20MW capacity.
“This transaction represents an exciting investment in a fast-growing and high-performing sector,” said Tommaso Albanese, global head and CIO of Infrastructure at UBS REPM. “Beyond the performance of the asset, the facility’s market-leading energy efficiency, use of 100 percent renewable energy and carbon offsetting aligns with UBS REPM’s wider ESG strategy and investment rationale.”