African private equity manager African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and N+One Datacenters (N+One), an African data centre owner and operator, are joining forces to develop a new pan-African data centre and cloud services platform with a short-term target capacity of 40 MW.
N+One will contribute its existing portfolio of digital infrastructure assets and extensive products in Morocco and AIIM will be contributing an initial $90-million of growth equity through its latest pan-African infrastructure fund, African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4.
The platform will focus on the development of hyperscale and wholesale carrier-neutral facilities to provide solutions to enterprise, government and hyperscale customers across the continent.
The partnership with AIIM paves the way for N+One to further expand its existing campuses in Morocco and Senegal while developing new hyperscale locations in response to customer demand.
AIIM’s infrastructure investment track record in Africa, with multiple digital infrastructure investments across the telecommunications towers, data centre and fibre sub-sectors, coupled with an active asset management strategy to support high-performing management teams alongside its ability to provide substantial growth capital, were key factors in forming the alliance.
The $90-million growth equity contribution through AIIM’s next generation infrastructure fund, AIIF4, will support the roll-out of the platform and construction of greenfield data centrew infrastructure across West Africa. The investment will add to AIIM’s current portfolio of digital infrastructure assets and accelerate digitisation on the continent.
There is currently more than 300MW of installed IT load in Africa, the majority of which is in South Africa. Exponential growth in data generation and consumption in combination with an increased focus on data sovereignty will result in the onshoring of data on to the continent.
With data centre demand expected to grow to over 1GW by 2030, significant investment is needed to support the growth potential of the continent’s digital economy.
N+One recognizes the pivotal role that digital infrastructure plays in accelerating digital transformation, fostering innovation, and driving economic growth.
“We are thrilled to introduce our collaboration to the African market,” says Amine Kandil, Founder and CEO of N+One. “Our vison is to deliver regionally interconnected hyperscale data centers, built and operated to highest industry standards. This launch represents a significant step toward realizing that vision.”
“N+ONE is an exciting success story having built market-leading facilities in Morocco, and demonstrating its ability to meet customer needs with its comprehensive portfolio of products and services,” said Moritz Breickmann, investment director at AIIM. “With this partnership, we are seeking to replicate N+ONE’s success in new markets by building a pan-African data center platform that provides customers with trusted solutions across several countries and addresses the increasing demand for data storage and processing on the continent.”