NEXTDC to buy new data centre sites

Three new commercial property sites will be purchased by NEXTDC for its future data centre developments.

The sites will be in Sydney (S3), Melbourne (M3) and Perth (P2).

The company will fund the new sites with the initial development of P2 via equity raising. This will consist of a fully underwritten $281 million institutional placement of new shares and a non-underwritten share purchase plan (SPP).

The new sites as well as the P2 base building development works are incremental to the company’s existing funding.

NEXTDC continues to experience very strong demand for its premium data centre services.

The company is in advanced negotiations in relation to several large customer opportunities, which further improves NEXTDC’s visibility and increases its confidence in the size and nature of the long-term demand for its data centre services.

Accordingly, NEXTDC has taken the strategic decision to prepare for future growth and to mitigate the risks of running out of new capacity in its key markets by purchasing the new sites. This will allow NEXTDC to quickly respond to market demand and to optimally sequence the deployment of capital and construction of the new data centre facilities over the longer term.

"Over time these new infrastructure developments are expected to be the largest of their kind in Australia. These important strategic investments will extend our world-class operation of Tier IV data centres across the Australian landscape,” said Craig Scroggie, CEO.

NEXTDC has also announced its decision to advance the planning and development of a new P2 facility in Perth with a planned IT capacity of 20 MW. The company is planning to commence development of the new P2 site in 1Q19 and expects practical completion in 1H FY20, ensuring the company continues to have available capacity in Perth.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Baris Simsek

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