Strategic Capital Fund Management has formed Strategic Datasphere -- which will seek to acquire, develop and manage data centers across North America and Europe.
Datasphere has "access to significant committed equity capital that is expected to support more than $1.5 billion in potential investments alongside debt financing." the investment firm says.
Datasphere will be led by CEO Bryan Marsh, who previously was VP and portfolio manager at Digital Realty Trust. In that position, Marsh oversaw approximately 8 million square feet of data center real estate valued at roughly $5 billion across its U.S. Central Region, Datasphere says.
Datasphere's strategy will include "sale-leaseback transactions" with technology, communications, cloud, enterprise and public sector tenants. In other words, Datasphere will seek to acquire data centers from enterprise companies -- and then lease back the associated data center services to those companies.
Datasphere Prepares to Acquire Data Centers: Executive Perspectives
In a prepared statement about Datasphere, Jim Condon, managing partner at Strategic Capital, said:
“Data centers are a critical component of the broader digital infrastructure ecosystem that is supporting an accelerated demand for online and mobile platforms for consumers and businesses alike. These real estate assets have proven their resiliency as essential infrastructure throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and we believe next-generation technologies like 5G, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and more will create long-term sustainable growth in the sector. We are excited to partner with a high-quality institutional investor who shares our vision for this dynamic asset class."
Added Marsh:
“We are ecstatic to embark on our mission at Datasphere to serve as long-term stewards for the data center assets we acquire and develop, for the tenant customer relationships that reside within the facilities, for the employees that build and manage these assets, and for the environment through sustainable and renewable practices."
Datasphere: Data Center Investment Thesis?
Poke around Strategic Capital Fund Management, and you'll find some more details about the fund's data center investment thesis. Target investments, according to that online thesis, include data centers that involve:
- Enterprise, wholesale, colocation, edge, switch or network POP
- Powered shell, turnkey, build-to-suit
- Single tenant or multi-tenant
- $5 million and up -- though ChannelE2E doesn't know if that figure represents data center revenue, valuation or something else
- Absolute net, NNN, modified gross, sale-leaseback
- Creditworthy tenants
