HMC Capital shares rise on $400m iseek acquisition
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More news: Shares in HMC Capital had risen 2.9% to $10.68 at 11am AEDT after the alternative asset manager announced another data centre acquisition as it prepares for the biggest ASX float of 2024.
HMC said today it has agreed to buy data centre operating platform iseek for $400 million, following several other acquisitions that together will seed an ASX-listed DigiCo Infrastructure REIT with $4 billion of assets under management.
HMC Capital buys data centre platform iseek for $400m
The news: HMC Capital has agreed to buy Australian co-location data centre operating platform iseek for $400 million.
The numbers: The acquisition consists of $150 million upfront cash and $250 million of scrip in HMC's new DigiCo Infrastructure REIT.
HMC has now bought up $2.5 billion of strategic operating assets in Australia and is in exclusive due diligence on an additional $1.6 billion of data centre assets located in North America.
These acquisitions will seed an ASX-listed DigiCo Infrastructure REIT, announced last month, with $4 billion of assets under management (AUM).
The context: iseek has a portfolio of seven co-location data centres, mostly in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales.
Last month, HMC announced the $1.9 billion acquisition of co-location data centre Global Switch Australia as a seed asset for its new DigiCo platform.
HMC said its strategy to establish the ASX-listed DigiCo REIT by the end of the calendar year remains on track, with the intention to raise $2.6 billion of new equity.
What they said: "iseek is a leading colocation data centre platform with a high quality and diverse customer base across government, hyperscale and enterprise customers," said HMC's managing director and CEO David Di Pilla.
"This acquisition is also highly complementary to our recent acquisition of Global Switch Australia with a number of benefits including enhanced geographic and customer diversification," he said.
iseek CEO Scott Hicks, and founder and executive director Jason Gomersall, said: "We are excited to be partnering with HMC Capital's DigiCo platform to accelerate iseek's next phase of growth."
"A significant portion of the acquisition proceeds will be taken in scrip in the DigiCo Infrastructure REIT IPO which is a testament to our strong conviction in the REIT's investment strategy and growth runway," they said.
The source: ASX announcement
