Hamilton data centre operator poised for further growth after 'landmark' acquisition of five sites

A Hamilton-based data centre company is poised for further growth after acquiring five sites in a “landmark” deal.

Asanti Datacentres said it had acquired the five centres, located in Hamilton, Birstall, Farnborough, Manchester and Reading, from Daisy Group, one of the UK’s largest communications and IT services providers. The Hamilton location is paired with Asanti’s existing data centre resource in Livingston. All the data centres are connected to a single national network with a connection speed in excess of 100 gigabits per second.

Daisy will remain the service provider and will become a client of Asanti. Daisy’s customers will continue to be hosted in the data centres, and their services will remain unchanged. The firm’s staff have joined Asanti, headquartered in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, as part of the acquisition.

Asanti was recently acquired by Invesis, the global investor and developer of infrastructure projects. Invesis has committed to providing additional funding that will enable Asanti to secure further acquisitions and develop new-build data centres in the UK and Europe.

Stewart Laing, chief executive of Asanti, said: “Our aim is to provide state-of-the-art technology, with a short-term objective of utilising 100 per cent renewable energy, and maintaining competitive solutions in the market. This demonstrates our strong commitment to working with clients to help them achieve financial, technical and sustainability targets. Most organisations have deployed, or are looking to deploy, a hybrid data centre model - a mix of legacy and private and public cloud infrastructures. Companies currently using, or looking to use, colocation data centre facilities now have a better option with access to Asanti’s Regional Edge data centres.”

Financial terms surrounding the deal have not been disclosed.

Chris Williams, Invesis chief executive, said: “Data centre infrastructure is fundamentally important to many organisations and the Asanti team has a clear vision of its role in this market, both now and in the future. That’s why we’re backing them. We see this as an important step towards a major involvement for Invesis in this important area of infrastructure.”

Tom Glover of JLL, who advised on the investment, said: “Capital investments have been the focus of several data centre deals and, with a scarcity of opportunities, investors are having to get more creative in their deployment of capital. With the significant upturn in demand for Regional Edge data centres, this astute investment in Asanti provides Invesis with an immediate presence within the UK’s Regional Edge data centre market.”

Left to right: Bill Harkins, business development director, Invesis; Chris Williams, CEO Invesis; Stewart Laing, CEO Asanti; and Cathal Griffin, CRO, Asanti. Picture: Jamie Simpson

Last year, global data centre investment topped some £39 billion, up from £28.6bn in 2020. In Europe, investment in 2021 was five times higher than its five-year average, according to JLL.

Steve Langmead, chief executive of Edinburgh-headquartered Commsworld, provider of the largest, privately-funded optical core network in the UK, said: “The Asanti team has the ambition and capability to enhance the development of the UK data centre sector. I am confident that this deal will provide a strong strategic platform from which Asanti can further develop its business. We look forward to partnering with Asanti as we, collectively, strive to excel in delivering our customers’ data handling needs.”