Teraco Data Environments, the neutral co-location data centre operator and Internet exchange hub, has secured a R200-million medium term funding facility from Absa’s Corporate and Investment Banking division.
“The funds raised are the largest by an independently owned African data centre operator and will enable Teraco to continue to expand facilities in line with clients needs,” says Jan Hnizdo, Teraco’s chief financial officer.
Teraco’s data centre facilities allow clients to co-locate their key telecommunications equipment, Internet requirements, storage facilities, cloud, hosting and other IT infrastructure services, in a scalable way. Teraco further enables clients to easily connect to key content hubs, enabling the ease of sharing and distribution of data, online content and media.
“Teraco is experiencing a high demand for its premium data centre services, and the demand continues to grow. This growth is strongly underpinned by growth in the Internet and cloud,” says Lex van Wyk, CEO of Teraco.
Over the last three years Teraco has significantly expanded its footprint to three data centres located in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg which, combined, comprise 6,6MW of power plant, powering over 4 000 square metres of operating data centre space. Teraco is also home to NAPAfrica, a neutral layer-two Internet peering exchange (IX) point.
Hnizdo says the Absa funding facility will allow for continued expansion of available space in Teraco’s data centres in line with client demands and that there are short term plans to expand the Cape Town and Johannesburg data centres by a further combined 4MW of power and 3 000 square metres of operating data centre space.
“A major factor in selecting Absa CIB, above proposals obtained from other funding institutions, is that as a member of Barclays it is truly fully local and fully global” says Hnizdo.
“Barclays has assisted key international data centre operators worldwide such as Equinix, Interxion and Telecity with their funding requirements and therefore has the in-house skills to understand the business models of data centre operators and their unique funding requirements.
“The facility allows Teraco to refinance its existing debt facilities, together with a flexible draw facility to fund future infrastructure investments,” says Hnizdo.
“We are pleased to be participating in this groundbreaking transaction as Teraco signifies a positive change towards addressing the effective use of resources and improving efficiencies in the telecommunications sector,” says Jason Abt from Absa CIB.
Van Wyk adds: “The telecommunications industry is experiencing exciting times. Teraco has rapidly evolved into being the communications and Internet exchange point of southern Africa. Recent agreements with AMS-IX and LINX enable Teraco’s clients to now peer at major Internet exchanges worldwide. The securing of the Absa funding facility will contribute to these positive changes in the industry.”
Teraco’s data centre facilities allow clients to co-locate their key telecommunications equipment, Internet requirements, storage facilities, cloud, hosting and other IT infrastructure services, in a scalable way. Teraco further enables clients to easily connect to key content hubs, enabling the ease of sharing and distribution of data, online content and media.
“Teraco is experiencing a high demand for its premium data centre services, and the demand continues to grow. This growth is strongly underpinned by growth in the Internet and cloud,” says Lex van Wyk, CEO of Teraco.
Over the last three years Teraco has significantly expanded its footprint to three data centres located in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg which, combined, comprise 6,6MW of power plant, powering over 4 000 square metres of operating data centre space. Teraco is also home to NAPAfrica, a neutral layer-two Internet peering exchange (IX) point.
Hnizdo says the Absa funding facility will allow for continued expansion of available space in Teraco’s data centres in line with client demands and that there are short term plans to expand the Cape Town and Johannesburg data centres by a further combined 4MW of power and 3 000 square metres of operating data centre space.
“A major factor in selecting Absa CIB, above proposals obtained from other funding institutions, is that as a member of Barclays it is truly fully local and fully global” says Hnizdo.
“Barclays has assisted key international data centre operators worldwide such as Equinix, Interxion and Telecity with their funding requirements and therefore has the in-house skills to understand the business models of data centre operators and their unique funding requirements.
“The facility allows Teraco to refinance its existing debt facilities, together with a flexible draw facility to fund future infrastructure investments,” says Hnizdo.
“We are pleased to be participating in this groundbreaking transaction as Teraco signifies a positive change towards addressing the effective use of resources and improving efficiencies in the telecommunications sector,” says Jason Abt from Absa CIB.
Van Wyk adds: “The telecommunications industry is experiencing exciting times. Teraco has rapidly evolved into being the communications and Internet exchange point of southern Africa. Recent agreements with AMS-IX and LINX enable Teraco’s clients to now peer at major Internet exchanges worldwide. The securing of the Absa funding facility will contribute to these positive changes in the industry.”