Equinix Spent $252M Buying Singapore, India Data Centres Last Week

As demand for cloud services heats up in Asian markets, data centre developer and operator Equinix has struck a deal to purchase a server facility in Singapore, just days after purchasing a pair of similar properties in India.

In Singapore, the US-based firm has agreed to pay S$125 million ($91.35 million) to purchase the S3 data centre in Singapore’s One-North technology park from Mapletree Industrial Trust, according to an announcement on Friday to the Singapore exchange.

That deal followed Equinix’ 10 August declaration of a $161 million acquisition of a pair of data centres in Mumbai, marking the NASDAQ-listed firm’s first foray into India.

Rent to Buy in Singapore

Equinix is well familiar with its new Singapore prize after having commissioned Mapletree Industrial Trust to develop the 384,802 square foot (35,749 square metre) facility in 2013 on a 30-year land lease.

The seven-storey server shed was completed in 2015 and is located at 26A Ayer Rajah Crescent, next to Equinix SG1 facility, which was the California-based firm’s first property in Singapore.

The development agreement between Equinix and the Mapletree Trust included an option for the US firm to purchase the property. The transaction price is in line with a S$125 million valuation of the data centre by Savills dated 31 March of this year.

Completion of the transaction is expected during the fourth quarter of this year with Mapletree Industrial Trust scoring a 23.3 percent premium over what it paid to develop the facility, according to an announcement by the Temasek-backed trust’s manager.

Indian Acquisition

The Singapore acquisition came just four days after Equinix announced a deal to purchase a two facility data centre campus in Mumbai from India-based developer GPX Global Systems.

“Over the years, we have consistently received high levels of interest from our customers about servicing their interconnection needs in India, Jeremy Deutsch, President of Equinix Asia Pacific said in a statement. “Today’s announcement will further strengthen our leadership position in the Asia-Pacific region and directly meet the stated needs of our global customers to support them as they invest and expand in India.”

Under the terms of the deal, Equinix is paying $161 million to acquire GPX’ India business, which consists of the two-centre complex. The facility currently has capacity for 1,350 server cabinets, with the potential to add 500 more, should it be expanded to its maximum 90,000 square feet of potential space.

The complex already hosts cloud service providers including Amazon Direct Connect, Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect, according to Equinix, with India’s cloud services market expected to grow threefold to more than $7.1 billion from 2018 to 2022.

JP Morgan, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP advised Equinix in connection with the transaction, which is expected to close during the first quarter of 2021.

With these latest acquisitions, Equinix now counts more than 210 data centres as part of its global platform spanning 26 countries. Within Asia Pacific, the company operates 46 data centres across 13 metro areas in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Singapore.