Digital 9 Acquires 6MW Volta Data Center in London for £45M

Digital 9 Infrastructure (D9), a London Stock Exchange-listed investment trust investing in digital infrastructure, has acquired Volta Data Centres for £45 million. Volta owns and operates a 6MW colocation data center based in central London, UK.

The acquisition is in line with D9’s metro edge data center strategy, which identifies facilities in or near urban areas that provide reliable connectivity to clients that need low latency data center solutions.

Data centers form a key part of the digital infrastructure backbone,” said Jack Waters, Chair of Digital 9 Infrastructure. “The acquisition of Volta, which was a pipeline investment identified at IPO, adds to our portfolio of data centers which are in key connectivity locations, as D9 continues to build an integrated platform, driving connectivity throughout its investments.”

To sum up, key highlights of this data center acquisition include:

  • Since 2013, this 6 MW data center in downtown London has been operational
  • Its carrier-neutral facility has over 40 networks accessible, placing it in the top tier for connectivity among all central London data centers
  • Over 100 clients from the banking, media, technology, telecom, and energy industries make up its diverse customer base
  • Provides direct access to a variety of cloud systems
  • Volta’s vulnerability to power price swings is reduced by over 50 percent of the MW sold, which has a direct power pass through in the contract
  • Focus on reaching carbon neutrality by utilizing renewable energy sources
  • Owns the lengthy leasehold to the 91,000 square foot building where it works on the outskirts of the City of London, just a few minutes’ walk from Farringdon Station
  • D9’s stated aim of purchasing assets with solid connectivity close to end users and devices at metro edge locations, complementing its Verne Global and SeaEdge data center plans, is consistent with the central London site
Photo Jack Waters, Chair of Digital 9 Infrastructure.
“The acquisition of Volta, which was a pipeline investment identified at IPO, adds to our portfolio of data centers which are in key connectivity locations.” said Jack Waters, Chair of Digital 9 Infrastructure.

“Volta is one of central London’s best connected data centers, providing a unique opportunity to purchase a freehold operating asset with over 100 customers and an exciting long-term future as customers continue to seek low latency access in key centralized locations,” said Thor Johnsen, Head of Digital Infrastructure at Triple Point Investment Management.

“We are particularly excited to explore opportunities across existing enterprise customers to optimize data center utilization across the broader platform, balancing the low latency metro access of Volta with the predictable power costs and sustainability benefits of our Nordic data center platform, Verne Global.”

Digital 9 IPO

D9 has raised a total of £845 million in equity through its IPO in March 2021 and three subsequent placements, which it has invested in the following data centers, subsea fiber, and wireless networks:

Volta – a top data center in central London that offers retail colocation services with a capacity of 6 megawatts (April 2022).

Host Ireland – a significant enterprise broadband provider with fixed wireless access networks that it owns and operates (April 2022).

Aqua Comms – a prominent owner and operator of 20,000 kilometers of the most advanced subsea fiber cables – the Internet’s backbone – with a client base that includes global tech and telecoms providers (April 2021).

SeaEdge UK1 – The North Sea Connect undersea cable, which is part of the North Atlantic Loop underwater network, will use this data center and landing station to improve connection between the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, and North America (December 2021).

Verne Global – a prominent Icelandic data center platform with 40MW of high-density computing systems in operation or development, all powered by 100% renewable baseload energy (September 2021).

EMIC-1 – a collaboration with Meta on a 10,000-kilometer fiber network connecting Europe and India (July 2021).