Chayora Founders Launch Developing Market Data Centre Platform

The co-founders of Chayora Holdings have stepped back from full-time executive roles at the China-focused data centre developer to launch their own investment platform for digital infrastructure.

Hong Kong-based Oliver Jones and Jonathan Berney created Accelerated Infrastructure Capital to provide direct investment and access to venture funding and growth capital in support of “next generation” digital infrastructure programmes in second- and third-tier markets worldwide, AIC said in a release.

AIC plans to focus on these more challenging environments, providing access to investment for local expert management teams and supporting those teams through direct board involvement to achieve high-value transactions on performance-aligned terms for the operating teams.

“AIC is also working with significant private investors seeking off-market prospects in response to customer demand where AIC has evaluated and recommended projects ready to receive capital for rapid, risk-optimised deployment,” the company said.

Not Severing Ties

Managing partners Jones and Berney continue to advise and support Chayora exclusively in China as their new platform pursues projects in Central and South America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, AIC said.

Chayora is majority-owned by London-based fund manager Actis, which acquired its stake in the firm in 2019 with a $180 million investment. Other investors include EdgeConneX, a US data centre firm backed by Swedish fund manager EQT, which took a minority stake in Chayora late last year.

The data centre operator used that capital infusion, supplemented with $250 million of debt, to develop a pair of hyperscale facilities at the company’s 2.3 million square foot (213,677 square metre) Tianjin campus southeast of Beijing.

Chayora launched its 18-megawatt TJ1 data centre at the Tianjin campus in October 2020 after winning certification under the Open Compute Project dedicated to openness, scale and efficiency. Then in late 2021, the company announced the launch of a 54MW, 10,000-rack Shanghai campus that entered service at the beginning of this year.

Market Uncertainty

AIC’s founders have lessened their involvement in Chayora at an unsettled time for some of the biggest players in China’s data centre market, the world’s second largest.

Last week, Chindata Group Holdings received a takeover offer from chief backer Bain Capital valuing the Beijing-based data centre operator at around $2.9 billion. Private equity major Bain, which holds 42.17 percent of the total issued and outstanding share capital of Chindata, offered to buy the shares it does not already own in the company for $8 per American depositary share.

Chindata founder Alex Ju left his CEO post in late 2021, a little over a year after Bain led the company’s IPO with backing from institutional investors APG, BlackRock and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Huapeng Wu succeeded Ju as Chindata’s new CEO in March 2022.

On Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings placed Chindata rival VNET on “CreditWatch with negative implications”, estimating that the Beijing-based company faces a liquidity shortfall of up to RMB 1.4 billion ($200 million) ahead of $600 million in convertible notes becoming puttable in February 2024.

In February of last year, private equity giant Blackstone announced an additional $250 million investment in VNET, betting on demand for more server capacity in mainland China.