Deutsche Bank funds £50mn expansion of Virtus Data Centres
Wed 17 Sep 2014

London-based Virtus Data Centres has added a £50mn investment boost from Deutsche Bank to its funding portfolio. Though the additional capital is intended to ‘drive business growth’, it is not yet clear whether it will be used to develop or augment existing infrastructure in the company’s Enfield and Hayes locations, to construct new facilities or to grow Virtus through acquisitions.
Virtus CFO Daryl Seaton said “The additional funding will provide Virtus with a significant platform for accelerated business growth. The debt markets remain challenging, particularly for capital intensive businesses, but this arrangement demonstrates that funding is available for the right companies.”
In addition to its core agile co-location services, Virtus offers a diverse array of cloud products including system integrators, CDN and media provision, mobile, telecoms and financial services.
The company has recently brought to completion ‘London 2’, the new Hayes data centre, an eco-efficient (PUE < 1.2) operation powered by 100 per cent renewable sources, offering an output of 11.4mw and 6,068m2 of net technical space. The facility has six subdividible data halls connected to a choice of ten carriers, including four at Tier 1, and was described by Virtus CEO Neil Cresswell as “one of the most advanced data centres in the UK”.
This year Virtus has added Microsoft Azure and AWS (Amazon Web Services) via Level 3’s network.
Founded in 2008, Virtus agreed a significant financial investment from Brockton Capital in 2011, a UK-centric private equity fund which has raised more than £500mn from private investors for the company, and which will continue its commitment to Virtus.
A shared slide presentation from 2012 outlines up to four major facilities for the company’s future, though there is currently no indication as to whether Deutsche Bank’s new backing is intended to see through any additional construction projects.