The deal gives EdgeConnex possession of GTN’s sole facility outside Jakarta
EdgeConneX, a digital infrastructure provider backed by Swedish private equity firm EQT, has entered the Indonesia market with the acquisition of a local data centre joint venture from Mitsui and Lippo Group’s PT Multipolar Technology.
EdgeConneX said in a press release on Thursday that it has purchased GTN Data Center, without revealing terms, with the deal giving the EQT-backed firm entry to the country of more than 273 million people around four months after it invested in the China market, and just over one year after establishing a joint venture in India.
The Indonesia acquisition gives EdgeConnex ownership of a 5 megawatt Jakarta facility with an adjoining site which the firm plans to expand into a 90 megawatt hyperscale data centre campus
“As we continue to expand both our Edge and hyperscale data center platform globally, the planned hyperscale data center campus in Jakarta will give us capabilities to meet our customers’ requirements for capacity in this vital and growing market in the APAC region,” said Kelvin Fong, managing director for Asia Pacific at EdgeConnex.
Indonesia on the Rise
The digital infrastructure provider’s new asset is located in Cikarang, Bekasi District, which is 35 kilometres (21.7 miles) away from central Jakarta with the project also including around 40,000 square meters (430,500 square feet) of additional land that would support development of the hyperscale data centre project.
EdgeConnex chief executive Kelvin Fong
The existing facility was the only project of GTN Data Center, a co-location provider established in 2016 which had been 65 percent owned by PT Multipolar Technology, with the remaining 35 percent belonging to Japan’s Mitsui.
Mingtiandi reached out to GTN Data Center for further details on the deal but did not get a response by the time of publication.
PT Multipolar had first declared the sale of GTN Data Center to EdgeConnex with the Indonesian stock exchange in February, with the Jakarta project currently being operated as a co-location facility serving 50 customers.
With digital infrastructure analysis firm Structure Research estimating that the Jakarta data centre market alone will reach $650 million in turnover annually by 2026 the GTN transaction makes EdgeConnex the latest international operator to enter Southeast Asia’s most populous nation.
Within the last year regional players Digital Edge, Logos, NTT and ST Telemedia Global Data Centres have all announced data centre projects or acquisition in Indonesia, with Singapore-based Princeton Digital Group unveiling its third development in the country last August.
“This is a market with tremendous long-term upside,” Structure Research founder Philbert Shih said in a statement. “Indonesia has strong demographics, a rapidly rising homegrown technology sector, and is early in the adoption curve when it comes to outsourced infrastructure services like cloud and data centres,”
Swedes Invade
After EdgeConnex formally established its APAC regional headquarters in Singapore in August of last year, the Indonesia acquisition brings the company’s portfolio in the region to nine projects, including six locations under its India joint venture, and another two facilities owned by mainland data centre developer Chayora, which the firm invested in during December.
In India, the US-based firm launched its AdaniConnex joint venture with Adani Group in February of last year with the aim of building 1 gigawatt of capacity across the country over the next decade. The firm’s website currently lists data centre projects in six cities across India.
In December, EdgeConnex paid an undisclosed sum for a minority stake in Chayora, which operates a facility in Tianjin and has another project underway in Shanghai.
Acquired by EQT in August 2020, EdgeConnex has expanded nearly as quickly in Asia as it parent firm, which in March this year agreed to pay €6.8 billion ($7.5 billion) in cash and stock to acquire Baring Private Equity Asia.
In January of this year, the Swedish firm’s property division, EQT Exeter, had acquired Tokyo-based Bear Logi to expand its logistics business in the region, after earlier setting up operations in Shanghai.
“Expanding our footprint in Asia is part of the strategic objectives we set out at the time of our IPO, and BPEA represents a unique opportunity, as a well-established and top-performing firm in the region, to enhance our global platform and position us to capitalize on the structural growth opportunity in Asian private markets,” EQT chief executive and managing partner Christian Sinding said during the announcement of the BPEA buyout in March.
The Swedish buyout firm listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in late 2019.
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