RMB continues to see opportunity for investment in digital infrastructure in SA and the African continent, backing Africa Data Centres’ expansion plans with a R2bn facility.
Africa Data Centres (ADC), a unit of Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa’s Cassava Technologies group, said it had unlocked funding “that will allow them to expand data centre capacity and meet the growing demand for cloud computing services in SA”.
RMB acted as the coordinator, initial mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on the facility.
“The financing agreement demonstrates the strong financial position of Africa Data Centres and its commitment to investing in the digital transformation of SA,” ADC said.
ADC operates a network of hyperscale and edge data centres across Southern, East and West Africa. The financing is earmarked to expand its hyperscale data centre capacity by an additional 20MW, furthering its position as a large player to provide a high standard of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre facilities.
“This funding is a significant milestone in the growth of Africa Data Centres,” said Hardy Pemhiwa, group CEO of Cassava Technologies. “It underscores our commitment to growth and our confidence in the future of the SA data centre market. The additional funding will allow us to support the digital transformation journeys of our customers. Data centres are key to delivering on our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind”.
Cassava has been expanding its cloud business, security services and other technologies on top of its existing telecom capability. As part of the move, the group recently rebranded its Liquid Telecom unit to Liquid Intelligent Technologies, entering a market dominated by companies such as Telkom subsidiary BCX, Dimension Data, EOH and Altron.
As part of the change, the group has taken advantage of its fibre network to create a data centre service on the continent. Through ADC, the company is one of Africa’s largest data centre operators. In SA, the company bought the Samrand data centre, north of Johannesburg, from Standard Bank for an undisclosed sum.
For RMB, this move adds another notch on its belt of digital investment.
In addition to the ADC facility, RMB recently backed PowerFleet — a new addition to the JSE — through a R1.8bn facility, and acted as financial adviser to Royal Bafokeng Holdings in its R6.75bn deal to take over Telkom’s masts and towers business Swiftnet, together with Actis.
In 2022, fibre network operator Octotel secured R2bn in financing from RMB to push its network rollout.
“The data centre space presents a significant digital infrastructure opportunity, as there is currently a large deficit of supply versus demand,” said Nana Phiri, head of corporate client group at RMB.
“With the exponential growth in demand for data centre capacity in Africa, we are proud to partner with Africa Data Centres as they facilitate digital transformation across the continent. We see this funding as part of RMB’s mandate of financing the development of a sustainable digital economy in SA”.
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