THE UK’s largest data centre is being built by a new fund administered in Guernsey. The fund aims to raise through a number of share offers between £100m. and £200m. in equity by the end of 2009.
The PFB Data Centre Fund has been established as a Guernsey-registered closed-ended investment company and is domiciled and listed on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange.
The fund will focus on the specialist property sector and has entered into a joint venture with a German-based developer e-shelter to build a data centre facility on a 50-acre site in Buckinghamshire.
The development should rank as the second-largest such facility in Europe. The fund is managed by Pinder Fry & Benjamin in the UK and will be administered by International Administration Guernsey.
The legal advisers are Macfarlanes in the UK and Guernsey’s Carey Olsen.
GuernseyFinance chief executive Peter Niven said this was a prime example of how Guernsey could provide a one-stop shop for funds.
‘The island has a registered fund regime, which provides a fast-track process for regulatory consent, legal and administration capability with experience and expertise of the broadest range of asset classes,’ he said.
Mr Niven said the local stock exchange offered primary and secondary listings in a pragmatic environment.
‘It is this offering which enables Guernsey to continue to punch above its weight as a leading funds jurisdiction.’
The PFB Data Centre Fund aims for the development at Saunderton in Buckinghamshire to tackle the bottleneck in modern data centre supply.
A shortage of data warehousing followed the failure of former data centre operators, which were wiped out after the dot.com bust in 2000.
The supply has been limited as the cost of developing the properties is high because of their stringent location and energy supply demands.
But there has been an explosion of online consumer spending, data-rich online applications, such as video and peer-to-peer file sharing and tougher regulation on financial services groups’ retention of data.
All of these factors have boosted demand.
The fund will finance the acquisition and development of the Saunderton site.
This is the first investment for the fund and it is in discussions with e-shelter about further opportunities in the UK and Europe.
The Saunderton site is being acquired from Molins, the tobacco machinery manufacturer, for £17.5m.
Once the site has been developed and the data centres have been fitted out, its gross value could be approximately £1bn.
The second share offer closes at the end of June.
The fund will have a life of five to seven or more years and the manager anticipates returns, based on various assumptions, of 17-19% a year.
International Administration Guernsey chief executive Alison Simpson (pictured) said it was delighted to be appointed, which has gained significant media coverage for investing in what is a specialist but potentially very rewarding market.
‘This mandate shows the team is more than capable of delivering for the complete range of funds, including those that have public profile and are particularly niche.’
Carey Olsen partner Ben Morgan said its team had extensive experience and expertise in structuring funds varying from the traditional to alternatives such as funds of funds, private equity and property.
‘Increasingly we are seeing the specialist closed-ended funds taking advantage of the new fast-track process for gaining regulatory consent that is available to them,’ he said.
‘The PFB Data Centre Fund is a particularly interesting example of the sort of funds coming to the island.’
Article posted on 22nd May, 2008 - 2.30pm
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