Actis Nears Deal to Buy $676M in Hong Kong Data Centres From Grand Ming

London-based fund manager Actis is nearing a deal to buy a portfolio of Hong Kong data centres from local developer Grand Ming Group after an exclusivity period with previous suitor Bain Capital expired, market sources confirmed to Mingtiandi on Tuesday.

The potential transaction has a value of up to HK$5.25 billion ($675.5 million), according to term sheet details disclosed last month by HKEX-listed Grand Ming, with the portfolio comprising two operating data centres and two under-construction facilities in Hong Kong’s New Territories.

The non-binding term sheet lists iTech Tower 2 in Kwai Chung and the to-be-completed iTech Towers 3.1 and 3.2 in Fanling at a total consideration of HK$4.05 billion, while the HK$1.2 billion sale of iTech Tower 1 in Tsuen Wan is conditional on separate agreements being entered into by the parties.

The Actis negotiations, which were first reported by M&A intelligence provider Mergermarket, come at a key moment for Grand Ming, after the builder led by chairman Chan Hung Ming reported an annual loss of HK$292.1 million and disclosed in July that it was seeking waivers from lenders after breaching financial covenants governing HK$4.8 billion in outstanding loans.

Bain Exclusivity Lapsed

Grand Ming had entered exclusivity for the potential sale of iTech Towers 3.1 and 3.2 for a period of 90 days with US-based Bain, Mingtiandi reported in June. The exclusivity period for those discussions ended on 15 September, according to Grand Ming.

The developer said in June that iTech Tower 3.1 was “substantially completed”, with iTech Tower 3.2 already under construction. Information from industry data provider DC Byte indicates that the two phases of the 185,000 square foot (17,187 square foot) facility will each have a capacity of 8MW. The second phase is expected to be completed within next year.

The iTech Tower 3 project in Fanling is Grand Ming’s first purpose-built data centre facility after it earlier converted the industrial properties in Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan for digital infrastructure purposes.

The Fanling project is built to hold 1,000 server racks with 5.5 metre (18 foot) ceiling heights and is equipped for rack power densities of 5 to 10 kW. The Kwai Chung data centre holds 1,400 racks with 5.3 metre ceiling heights and features rack power densities of 3 to 10 kW, while the Tsuen Wan facility has 1,500 racks, 5 metre ceiling heights and 3 to 10 kW densities.

Infrastructure Specialist

Actis in June last year announced the launch of Epoch Digital, an Asia data centre platform with around 200MW of IT capacity across three  projects  in Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea. In March of this year the UK firm completed its acquisition of South African telecom tower operator Swiftnet, with Actis saying at the time that it was ramping up its investments in digital infrastructure.

Representatives of the UK fund manager declined to comment when reached by Mingtiandi.

In March 2024, Bloomberg reported that Actis had reached the $800 million first closing of a new infrastructure fund focused on emerging markets. The company had previously invested in the Chayora data centre platform, which operates facilities in Shanghai and Tianjin. 

In 2022, Actis reached a $700 million final closing for its 2019-vintage Actis Asia Real Estate Fund 2, which invests in new economy assets across emerging markets in the region.

The UK fund manager was acquired last October by General Atlantic, which integrated the business as the US private equity firm’s sustainable infrastructure arm.