In its first venture outside the United States, Lincoln Rackhouse, data centre division of Lincoln Property Company, has partnered with Sprott Korea Investment on the acquisition of 145,000-square-foot data centre in London’s data centre submarket of Camberley.
The data centre transaction is a partial sale-leaseback with a Fortune 100 financial institution, which has signed a long-term lease for approximately 50% of the facility. Lincoln Rackhouse will lease the remaining space and capacity to enterprise users or a data centre operator.
“We are very proud of the data center portfolio we’ve built in the United States. By adding a quality asset like this in London, one of the world’s top data center markets, we are taking our data center platform to new heights,” says Martin Peck, executive vice president and leader of Dallas-based Lincoln Rackhouse.
The London Data Centre market is one of the most vital digital infrastructure hubs, not only in Europe, but in the global data centre landscape. In terms of operational supply, London is second only to Northern Virginia.
“This latest acquisition continues our strategic expansion across the UK and Europe in those key sectors where we have a truly compelling expertise, and we look forward to doing more data center deals in the near future,” says Troy Javaher, the managing partner for the UK/Europe for Lincoln Property Company.
“We are honored to complete this transaction successfully, and we are thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with Lincoln Rackhouse,” says Seokhyun Yun, CEO of Sprott Korea Investment.
Data center demand is high among Korean institutional investors and operating companies. And, it is rapidly increasing due to the expansion of IoT and Cloud services. “Sprott Korea is looking forward to showing its ability to fulfill client needs for future data center investment opportunities,” Seokhyun says.
Despite current hyperscale demand, the high-cost London market was first established with more local enterprise applications. Increased needs from hyperscale, content, carrier, enterprise, IT service and various other customer types have impacted the market, creating a healthy mix of wholesale and retail colocation supply.
“This is a very appealing opportunity given the long site acquisition, construction and electrical capacity procurement lead times that enterprise users and operators can face when entering into or expanding within the London market. This acquisition enables us to facilitate a new customer installation immediately,” says Thomas Hill, vice president of acquisitions for Lincoln Rackhouse.
The acquisition was started and brought to fruition as planned despite market upheavals arising from the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. “To think this transaction was able to be successfully completed during these challenging times is not only personally inspiring, but it’s also a testament to the professionalism and dedication of all involved – our Lincoln and Sprott Korea teams, our attorneys, facility partners and our seller,” Peck emphasizes.
