Stonepeak helps raise $1B for digital edge data centres

Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, a North American private equity firm, has announced the formation of an independent data centre platform operating under the name Digital Edge.

This enterprise will focus on the acquisition and development of data centres and digital infrastructure in the fast-growing APAC region. Digital Edge will launch with $1B in equity capital raised by Stonepeak, its investors, and new management team for Digital Edge.

The management team includes experienced data center executives, including CEO Samuel Lee, formerly President of Equinix APAC, who is bringing several Equinix executives with him to the new venture. Other members of the Digital Edge executive team include former employees of Facebook, Tata Communications, and Macquarie.

Samuel Lee, CEO of Digital Edge, noted that with the support of Stonepeak, the company has completed its initial capacity acquisitions. “The transactions in Tokyo and Osaka give the platform a dual footprint offering to customers in Japan’s two primary data center markets.”

The APAC data centre market is growing steadily, as investors continue their activity in hyperscale and cloud facilities. 5G implementation is expected to drive future growth; and the growth of artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads could comprise as much as 40% of the region’s infrastructure investments by 2025.

The Singapore-based Digital Edge platform is focused on helping customers navigate the complex infrastructure and digital environments of the APAC region, to improve deployments and accelerate business results.

Digital Edge is not Stonepeak’s first venture into the data centre market: they currently hold a majority stake in U.S./Canadian data centre provider Cologix, Western European fibre company eunetworks, and were rumored last September to be part of a group bidding on data centre giant CyrusOne.