Yondr Group, Everstone Group to invest $1B to develop, operate data centres in India

Dutch data centre developer Yondr Group on Tuesday said it has formed a joint venture with private equity firm Everstone Group and will invest over $1 billion (about Rs 7,443 crore) to develop and operate data centres across India.

The joint venture, with an initial capitalisation of $1 billion will support hyperscale clients and service the rapidly growing Indian market, which is projected to exceed $4.5 billion by 2025, a statement said.

"The investment will be used to fund the development and operation of multi-locational hyperscale data centre business across important geographies in India, including but not restricted to the metros of Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and National Capital Region (Delhi)," it added.

Operating under the brand name 'EverYondr', the first facility located in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region - for which land and power have already been acquired - will deliver 30MW by 2023 and 60MW of IT capacity when fully developed, it said.

In recent years India has undergone significant digital transformation, with active internet user numbers reaching 525 million in 2019, representing an annual growth of 19.2 percent.

Low-cost smartphones and cheap data tariffs have further compounded the shift to digital, with data consumption increasing 37-fold, from 0.26 GB to 9.8 GB per user between 2014 and 2018.

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With a population of more than 1.3 billion and data consumption per user forecast to reach 18 GB per user by 2024, India represents a major market opportunity, surpassed only by the US and UK, the statement noted.

To meet the accelerated pace of cloud adoption, hyperscale companies are increasingly looking to credible partners to help realise their expansion needs.

Yondr's global experience combined with Everstone's strong execution capabilities in India will provide clients with a credible and consistent choice, said Sameer Sain, Co-founder and CEO of Everstone Group.

Dave Newitt, CEO at Yondr Group, said EverYondr's early acquisition of its first campus in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region reinforces its commitment to the region.

"Unlike other mature hyperscale markets, data centres in India require a proactive approach to development and a streamlined delivery process. As a business, our mission is to help clients meet their data centre capacity and technical real estate needs, faster, and with better performance outcomes than anyone else," he added.

Amsterdam-based privately-held Yondr Group is a leading global developer, owner-operator and service provider of hyperscale data centres across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas, and its assets are self-funded, self-designed and self-operated.

Singapore-headquartered Everstone Group is one of Asia's premier investment firms with assets over USD6 billion across private equity, real estate, infrastructure credit, and venture capital. Everstone has a significant resource base across its offices in New York, Mumbai, India, Singapore, London, and Mauritius.