Why Alternative Investors are Bullish about Africa’s Data Centre Market.
Data is everything, especially in Africa where its internet economy is growing at a fast rate leading to significant demand for data infrastructure and cloud base services. The nature of the demand cuts across key sectors of the economy such as financial services, healthcare, technology, businesses and government agencies with an expectation that over 75% of companies in these sectors will migrate to the cloud by 2025.
Revenue projections from the African data centre market are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12% to 2025 and beyond according to the Africa Data Center Association.
Investment in the Africa Data Center markets is growing with major tech companies namely Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) setting up cloud infrastructure within the South African region.
Investor interests have also increased with Raxio Data Centers’ recent announcement of a $170 sustainability-linked debt facility to accelerate digital transformation in Africa and other M&A and PE activities like :
- Equinix's acquisition of MainOne for an enterprise value of US$320M
- International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) $83M investment in Africa Data Centers
- African Infrastructure Investment Managers’ majority acquisition in Ngoya Etix DC (Ghana) Ltd.
- Digital Realty's acquisition of Teraco Data Environments for an enterprise value of $3.5 billion
Investment in the Africa Data Center markets will lead to tremendous growth in internet usage, storage capacity and data requirements which will in turn help businesses, local development companies, telcos, educational institutions and the creative economy to develop tools, offer services, build an efficient information ecosystem and create jobs
