Fintech PR
Kao Data Completes £206M Debt Raise with Deutsche Bank to Accelerate Data Centre Platform Expansion
- New debt facility, provided by leading data centre lender, Deutsche Bank, is extendable to £356 million, supporting the accelerated demand for infrastructure engineered for AI and advanced computing.
- New funding will help propel growth across Kao Data’s operational and planned assets and will support its expansion plans across the UK and Europe.
- Further, Kao Data’s sustained growth provides successful refinancing of existing lenders, one of which is Downing LLP.
LONDON, Jan. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Kao Data, the specialist developer and operator of data centres engineered for AI and advanced computing, has announced it has successfully completed a new, £206 million debt raise, with an accompanying accordion facility extendable to £356 million, via one of the world’s leading lenders to the data centre sector, Deutsche Bank.
The announcement marks a significant step forward for Kao Data, providing debt financing to fast-track its new contracted developments with customers across the cloud, AI and financial services, and the build-out of its KLON-06 data centre in Slough.
Deutsche Bank, which has vast experience in the structuring of sustainable, digital infrastructure assets, has provided financing to drive the expansion of the business in line with growing customer demand for GPU-powered computing. The funding will support Kao Data’s expansion into next-tier markets across the UK and continental Europe. In late 2023 Kao Data also established a new capital structure with its shareholders Infratil Ltd, Legal & General Capital, and Goldacre Noé Group, which will provide incremental equity investment to accelerate Kao Data’s strategic growth plans.
The debt facility, for which Deutsche Bank have been named mandated lead arranger and sole underwriter, will allow Kao Data to consolidate its debt with a single, large financial services organisation, refinancing those existing lenders who have played an integral role in the advancement of its secure, highly scalable, and sustainable data centre platform during the last decade.
As such, a proportion of the new funding will repay Downing LLP, a UK-based responsible investment management firm founded in 1986, which invests across a range of sectors, including renewable energy, infrastructure, healthcare, operational real estate and property development. Downing has partnered with Kao Data since its earliest development debt requirements and has subsequently helped fund its growth from a single-site development to a UK-wide platform.
“The success of our new debt raise is testament to the growth of our business, our reputation for industry-leading operations and technical delivery, and both the scale and demand for world-class infrastructure, engineered for AI,” said Matthew Harris, CFO, Kao Data. “I’d like to thank our lenders for their trust in our philosophy and ambition, which has been fully vindicated during the last decade, and all who have played an instrumental part in the evolution of the Kao Data platform. Looking forward, we are delighted to be working with one of the world’s leading digital infrastructure lenders in Deutsche Bank.”
“Since our first meeting with the company’s founders in 2015, we’ve been early believers in Kao Data’s expertise, mindset, and its vision for growth. We were delighted to provide Kao Data with growth capital funding in 2017 and saw an attractive opportunity to support them in the development of their sustainable data centre platform,” said Tom Phillips, Head of Institutional Business Development, Downing. “During the term of our investment, Kao Data has proved itself as an excellent example of what we look for in the businesses we like to back: a high-quality management team with a compelling business case. We are proud to have helped the company establish a firm foothold as a leader in one of the world’s most competitive, international data centre markets, whilst also delivering a successful return for our funds.”
Kao Data’s new financial capability with Deutsche Bank reinforces an exceptional twelve months for the organisation, which has secured several key customers from within the AI, hyperscale cloud, research, and financial services sectors. In May 2023 Kao Data also announced a new £350M investment into a state-of-the-art Greater Manchester data centre, followed by the completion of its KLON-02 facility in Harlow in November.
Kao Data’s advanced data centre portfolio now includes more than 160MW of IT-load, either currently operational, under development or planned – all of which is underpinned by the highest energy efficiency, sustainability, and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) credentials.
To learn more its data centre platform, engineered for AI, visit the website.
*Editors note: Kao Data was advised by Broadstone Capital Advisors, Eversheds Sutherland, Amberside Advisors, BDO, and Turner & Townsend.
About Kao Data
Kao Data leads the industry, pioneering the development and operation of data centres engineered for AI and advanced computing. With hyperscale-inspired facilities east and west of London, and northern England’s largest data centre planned for Greater Manchester, we are home to technology’s most demanding computing infrastructure.
Our award-winning, NVIDIA DGX-Ready certified data centres are designed, engineered, and operated by one of the industry’s most respected teams. Together, this provides colocation customers deploying mission critical AI, enterprise, and cloud workloads with a secure, scalable, and sustainable compute environment, backed by a guarantee of 100% uptime.
Kao Data’s data centre portfolio includes more than 160MW of IT load, either currently operational, under development or planned – all of which is under-pinned by the highest energy efficiency, sustainability and ESG credentials.
Backed by leading international investors, and with several pioneering ‘industry firsts’ to our name, Kao Data represents the future in industrial scale, high-capacity data centres for AI and the next generation of compute.
About Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank provides retail and private banking, corporate and transaction banking, lending, asset and wealth management products and services as well as focused investment banking to private individuals, small and medium-sized companies, corporations, governments, and institutional investors. Deutsche Bank is the leading bank in Germany with strong European roots and a global network.
About Downing LLP
Downing is a responsible investment manager established in London in 1986. We currently manage £1.9 billion of assets under a broad range of investment mandates across our funds, investment trusts and tax-efficient products. As a certified B Corporation, we are focussed on creating a sustainable future, our key investment areas are renewable energy, infrastructure, property and healthcare.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/kao-data-completes-206m-debt-raise-with-deutsche-bank-to-accelerate-data-centre-platform-expansion-302043604.html
The promotions span across six practice areas and three regions to drive growth in 2025 and beyond
CHICAGO, Jan. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Heidrick & Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII), a premier provider of global leadership advisory and on-demand talent solutions, today announced key global and regional leader appointments, effective January 1, 2025. The appointed leaders will continue advancing the firm’s objective of delivering exceptional value to clients by fostering differentiated, deep, and durable relationships.
“Having the right leadership in place is increasingly crucial to business performance, growth, and prosperity, making our work more important than ever,” said Tom Monahan, CEO, Heidrick & Struggles. “This dynamic group embodies our values as a firm as well as our unwavering commitment to delivering superior client service. We’re excited to promote these outstanding leaders as they continue to shepherd our clients through their most pressing business and talent challenges.”
These leaders span Heidrick & Struggles’ priority practice and solution areas, as well as multiple regions globally.
Individuals appointed to Regional Leader:
- Anne Rockey, North America
- Richard Guest, Asia Pacific & Middle East
Individual appointed to Global Managing Partner:
- Todd Taylor, Client Driven Growth, a newly created role
Individuals appointed to Executive Search Global Practice Managing Partner:
- Jaimee Eddington, Corporate Officers Practice
- Dominique Fortier, Financial Services Practice
- Chris Bray, Global Technology & Services Practice
- Gustavo Alba, Co-Lead, Private Equity Practice
Individuals appointed to Executive Search Regional Practice Managing Partner:
- Liz Langel, Americas, Financial Services Practice
- Ina Sood, Americas, Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice
- David Burd, Americas, Corporate Officers Practice
- David Crawford, Asia Pacific & Middle East, Global Technology & Services Practice
- Tom Cunningham, Europe & Africa, Global Technology & Services Practice
- Sarah Driscoll, Europe & Africa, Global Technology & Services Practice
- Roman Wecker, Europe & Africa, Industrial Practice
Individuals appointed to Partner-in-Charge:
- Jane Xing, Beijing
- Jessi Gentile, Chicago
- Maliha Jilani, Dubai
- Kim Pomoell, Finland
- Kiwook Kim, Korea
- David Richardson, New York/Stamford
- Christina Besozzi Cary, Washington, D.C.
Individual promoted in Heidrick Consulting:
- Eric Joseph, leading North America on an interim basis
About Heidrick & Struggles
Heidrick & Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII) is a premier provider of global leadership advisory services and on-demand talent solutions, serving the senior talent and consulting needs of the world’s top organizations. Heidrick & Struggles pioneered the profession of executive search more than 70 years ago. Today, we partner with clients to develop future-ready leaders and organizations, combining our expertise in executive search, leadership consulting, and on-demand, critical talent solutions to achieve the highest levels of profitability and performance. Helping our clients change the world, one leadership team at a time.® www.heidrick.com
Media Contact
Bianca Wilson
Global Director, Public Relations
Heidrick & Struggles
[email protected]
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LONDON, Jan. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Finastra, a global provider of financial services software applications, today announced a significant leadership transition. After nearly a decade of transformative leadership, Simon Paris will step down from his role as Chief Executive Officer. Chris Walters has joined Finastra and will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer.
Chris brings a wealth of experience from senior executive leadership positions, driving innovation and scaling technology companies. He recently served as CEO of Pluralsight and Avantax, a leading company within Financial Services, where he orchestrated significant performance improvement and the company’s successful sale. Prior to Pluralsight and Avantax, Chris served in a variety of leadership roles, including being a Partner at McKinsey & Company and the COO of Bloomberg Industry Verticals Group.
On his appointment, Chris said, “I’m excited to join Finastra at this pivotal moment in its journey and am impressed by the significant progress that has been made during Simon’s leadership. I look forward to working with the talented team to drive sustainable growth and continue to deliver more value to our customers, team members, and investors.”
Under Simon’s stewardship, the company has achieved remarkable milestones, including:
- Leading the charge in Open Finance, following the merger of Misys and D+H in 2017 to form Finastra
- Building a loyal customer base of over 8,000 clients in 130 countries, including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks
- Achieving recognition as a leader in Generative AI, with all employees upskilled and ~50 capabilities in progress from ideation to production stages
- Garnering extensive market accolades, including multiple product, culture, and leadership awards, and being named the #1 Banking Technology company, the #2 Financial Technology company, and appearing in the top 15 Software companies worldwide in 2024 alone
- Delivering record financial performance and double-digit Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth
As Finastra embarks on its new strategic sprint in 2025, the company is well-positioned for continued success. During the transition period, Simon and Chris will work closely together to ensure a smooth handover.
Simon reflected on his tenure, saying, “This journey with Finastra has been a privilege. Chris is a seasoned professional, and I am honored to ‘pass the baton’ to him. I leave incredibly proud of what Finastra has achieved so far and excited for the company’s future under Chris’s leadership.”
About Finastra
Finastra is a global provider of financial services software applications across Lending, Payments, Treasury and Capital Markets, and Universal (retail and digital) Banking. Committed to unlocking the potential of people, businesses and communities everywhere, its vision is to accelerate the future of Open Finance through technology and collaboration, and its pioneering approach is why it is trusted by ~8,100 financial institutions, including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks. For more information, visit finastra.com.
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AI Impact leverages DXC’s combined consulting, engineering, and secure enterprise services
ASHBURN, Va., Jan. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC), a leading Fortune 500 global technology services provider, today announced AI Impact, an approach designed to help solve customers’ most pressing challenges. By combining DXC consulting, engineering and secure enterprise services, DXC will help clients across industries securely innovate and drive real business outcomes with AI.
DXC takes a pragmatic approach to AI by focusing on developing solutions that solve real world challenges and support business growth. With DXC’s AI Impact, customers benefit from DXC’s vast industry expertise and technology experience to build solutions, services and experiences together that will deliver real business outcomes using the latest technology innovation. Read more about DXC’s approach here.
“AI has already captured the attention and imagination of industries everywhere. From AI agents to autonomous driving and personalized medicine, companies are taking steps to unlock value from AI, which promises to reshape our world,” said Howard Boville, EVP, Consulting & Engineering Services – Powered by AI. “With DXC’s AI Impact approach, we are helping to push the boundaries of what AI makes possible, guided by our team of consulting, engineering and technology experts to address our clients’ most pressing challenges.”
Customers across industries are leveraging AI Impact, including:
- Automotive: DXC is helping customers leverage AI-powered diagnostic tools to make it easier for automotive manufacturers and service providers to identify potential issues before they become critical, reducing downtime and maintenance costs. DXC is also helping customers leverage AI to personalize every aspect of a vehicle, including personal assistants that learn a driver’s preferences and habits over time to make more intuitive recommendations.
- Public Sector: To provide more transparency, governments are using DXC AI Impact to efficiently engage with citizens and make it easier for them to access public services. This includes the use of AI Agents and AI enhanced processes that streamline and simplify tax, national lending and even public healthcare processes.
- Financial Services and Insurance: DXC is helping customers optimize operations, from underwriting and risk assessment to claims processing and customer service. By working with DXC, financial institutions are leveraging chatbots to make it easy for human agents to respond faster and more accurately to customer inquiries by analyzing thousands of documents in minutes with Generative AI.
- Healthcare: DXC implemented an AI-powered app to help measure patient symptoms in real-time, analyzing data to provide clinicians with insights that enable more accurate diagnoses and treatment plans, improving the quality of care and proactively addressing prescription resistance.
For more information on DXC AI Impact and how we’re working with the most innovative industry leaders to securely innovate, visit here.
Forward Looking Statements
All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute “forward-looking statements.” These statements represent current expectations and beliefs, and no assurance can be given that any result, goal or plan set forth in any forward-looking statement can or will be achieved. Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements, many of which are outside of our control. For a written description of these factors, see the section titled “Risk Factors” in DXC’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, and any updating information in subsequent SEC filings. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements which speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update or release any revisions to any forward-looking statement or to report any events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
About DXC Technology
DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) helps global companies run their mission-critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. The world’s largest companies and public sector organizations trust DXC to deploy services to drive new levels of performance, competitiveness, and customer experience across their IT estates. Learn more about how we deliver excellence for our customers and colleagues at DXC.com.
CONTACT: Mihir Bellamkonda, Media Relations, [email protected]; Roger Sachs, Investor Relations, [email protected]
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/dxc-technologys-ai-impact-helps-customers-across-industries-innovate-with-ai-302343102.html
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