Chayora, the China Data Centre Campus Developer and Operator Secures US $180m Series C Funding from Actis and Completes on First Tranche

Chayora, the China Data Centre Campus Developer and Operator Secures US $180m Series C Funding from Actis and Completes on First Tranche. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) October 12, 2019 - Hong Kong – Actis Asia Real Estate Fund, (“AAREF”), managed by Actis, a leading growth markets investor, and Chayora Holdings Limited (“Chayora”) have reached agreement for AAREF and other Actis managed funds to invest up to a further US$180m equity in Chayora’s Series C round of funding and has completed the US$64m first tranche of the investment. This is in addition to the original Series B investment made by the Actis team in March 2016 when part of Standard Chartered Principal Finance Real Estate, resulting in AAREF securing a majority holding in Chayora. This Series C funding will provide Chayora with expansion capital for its data centre development projects. Combined with project debt of c.US$250m, it will enable Chayora to complete two hyperscale data centre facilities on the Chayora’s Tianjin campus and acquire land bank for further growth.

With this initial completion of the Series C funding agreement, AAREF now holds a majority proportion of ordinary shares in Chayora Holdings Limited. Under the investment agreement all land and property interests previously held under separate ownership structures will be integrated and become 100% owned by Chayora. This includes the land and first data centre building already completed on the 80 acre, 300MVA Tianjin campus that serves the greater Beijing area of 150 million population. The capital will support the acquisition of further land in Tianjin campus expansion and also the first land plots for the planned Chayora Shanghai area campus in neighbouring provinces.

The investment partnership between Actis and Chayora combines required capital, extensive power-related and technological infrastructure project expertise globally, key customer relationships and China market expertise with the proven data centre campus platform now established by Chayora’s in-China teams.

In addition, Chayora is launching its first colocation data halls designed to Tier III concurrently maintainable international standards to accommodate the high demand for smaller scale data storage requirements alongside the build-to-suit services available to both international and Chinese domestic hyperscale cloud service providers. The colocation facility will be managed in partnership with an established colocation operator. The Chayora product offering of highly resilient, energy efficient facilities developed to world-class design and construction standards and extending into consistent international operational management is building a brand identity that assures all customers that data centre environments comparable to the best world-wide can be accessed on compelling commercial and fully funded terms within China.

“We are very excited to extend our partnership with Chayora and to support its next phase of expansion and growth with this Series C round of funding. With a focused approach to develop world class standard data centre campuses in China, Chayora has amassed all the essential ingredients in a challenging regulatory environment to be a one-stop data centre infrastructure solution provider. We look forward to working closely with Chayora’s founders and management team to make it one of the preferred data centre partners for both domestic and international internet and cloud players in China.” comments Brian Chinappi, Partner and Head of Asia Real Estate of Actis.

“The close working relationship we have developed with the Actis team is valued and we are very pleased to have concluded agreement for the significant commitment being made to Chayora in this funding round. For Actis and Chayora, this underlines our strategic and long-term plan to create a leading data centre business in China to support market access by the world’s leading online services businesses. Data volumes continue to grow in exponential terms and in China, as the world’s largest online market, the levels of technical innovation in AI, ML and related applications in responding to end user demands, means being in China offers huge potential to global sector leaders. The effort and commitment to securing a trade agreement promises even greater opportunities for prospective customers and Chayora will now move forward to ensure world-class data centre environments with Chayora as a trusted counterparty are available to meet demand. This will be from smaller requirements through to hyperscale: from global Fortune 500 companies to new, well-funded new entrants and innovators wanting to be part of the next wave of Cloud and ICT innovation in China.” says Oliver Jones, CEO, Chayora.

About Actis:

Actis is a leading investor in growth markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Actis delivers consistent, competitive returns, responsibly, through insights gained from trusted relationships, local knowledge and deep sector expertise.

Founded in 2004, Actis has an unparalleled heritage in growth markets, set within a culture of active ownership. Actis has raised US$15bn since inception and employs over 200 people, including a team of c.120 investment professionals, working across 16 offices globally.

Actis has established itself as a leading investor in the energy infrastructure space having committed more than US$5 billion to 34 investments across 25 countries - generating 25GW and providing electricity to nearly 90 million customers.

About Chayora:
Chayora Holdings Limited, a Cayman Island registered company headquartered in Hong Kong, is a developer of hyperscale, world-class designed and operated, scalable data centres and data centre campuses in China. Chayora serves global Fortune 500 companies, premium Chinese data centre operators and international standard colocation users to enable cloud services, ICT services, financial services or other services offerings dependent on intensive, high quality data centre infrastructure in China.

Chayora’s core offer is to develop and operate large-scale, built-to-suit, high-performance data centres for individual clients on 5 to 15-year contracts, on multiple strategically located campuses with ‘ready to operate’ robust scalable infrastructure capable of supporting the operation of data centres to world-class standards. Subject to customer requirements, Chayora can offer this on a flexible powered land basis through to a full turnkey and operate solution with a unique modular approach to growth in required capacity as it is needed. As part of the overall solution Chayora offers highly competitive power supply arrangements and green power solutions, project financing solutions and fully transparent contracts with best-in-class global performance commitments in China.

For more information about Chayora, visit www.chayora.com.

Media Contact:
For media relations enquiries, please contact either:

Chayora:
Oliver Jones
oliver.jones ( @ ) chayora dot com
+852 9227 3850 / +44 7802 985053

Jonathan Berney
jonathan.berney ( @ ) chayora dot com
+852 9223 1446 / +852 2297 2202

Actis:
John Thompson
jthompson ( @ ) act dot is
+44 20 7234 5107

Brian Chinappi
bchinappi ( @ ) act dot is
+852 9028 6276

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