AdaniConneX, a 50:50 JV between Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) and EdgeConneX (ECX), on Friday announced the signing of India’s largest data centre financing deal by raising $213 million from international lenders for its under-construction data centre asset portfolio.
AdaniConneX achieved financial closure through its maiden construction facility by entering into Financing Framework.
Global financial institutions ING Bank N.V., Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Ltd., Natixis, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation have committed to the facility.
The tied-up facility will finance two data centres with an aggregate capacity of 67 Megawatt (Mw) that includes ‘Chennai 1’ campus with Phase 1 of 17 MW and Noida campus of 50 MW.
‘Key ingredient’
“The construction facility is the key ingredient of AdaniConneX capital management plan, providing the pathway for us to deliver on-time a reliable and sustainable data centre capacity of 1 GW by 2030,” said Jeyakumar Janakaraj, CEO of AdaniConneX. “The achievement marks a significant milestone in developing this transformative initiative, which is set to revolutionise the digital infrastructure in India.”
The access to the wide pool of liquidity strengthens AdaniConneX strategy to fast-track the implementation of the under-construction asset portfolio in sync with accelerating demand.
Anil Sardana, Director of AdaniConneX (Adani representative on the board), said, “The facility shall encourage overall implementation philosophy to power the digital infrastructure by delivering clean and long-term renewable energy solutions aiming toward a carbon-neutral footprint. EdgeConneX’s extensive data centre expertise and industry-leading technology solutions combined with Adani’s expertise in full-stack energy management, renewable power, and project development are set to transform the sector.”
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Edmund Wilson, Director – AdaniConneX (Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, EdgeConneX), said, “We are excited about our overall journey with Adani in India that has started with a robust implementation plan and a tremendous customer pipeline that will quickly establish AdaniConneX as the leading digital infrastructure platform for India.”
Data centre projects
The construction facility finances two data centre projects in Chennai and Noida, with customised enterprise colocation offerings and hyperscale solutions.
ING Bank N.V., Mizuho Bank Ltd., MUFG Bank Ltd., Natixis, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, Bookrunner (MLAB). Among other partners, Allen & Overy and Saraf & Partners were the borrower’s counsels. The lenders’ counsels were Clifford Chance and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
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AdaniConneX has laid down plans to build a 1 Gigawatt (GW) data centre infrastructure platform by leveraging the complementary capacity of the Adani Group, and EdgeConneX.
Jugeshinder Singh, Group CFO, Adani Group, said, “With this framework agreement, AdaniConnexT can execute its business plans of 1 GW of data centre capacities by 2030.”
He further said that AdaniConnexT will play a leading role in India’s data centre business as the country is expected to double the capacity from 870 MW to 1700-1800 MW by 2025.