UK data centre operator Kao Data has completed a £206m debt raise with Deutsche Bank as it looks to support the UK’s increasing appetite for artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing.
Kao, which develops and operates data centres specifically for AI, plans to use the cash to build new data centres across the UK and Europe.
Data centres are crucial for the training and use of AI models, which require vast amounts of computing power and data storage.
There is the option for lender Deutsche Bank to extend the debt facility to £356m.
Kao Data has also restructured its finances with support from its shareholders and the raise from Deutsche Bank will enable Kao to consolidate its debt with a single financial services organisation.
This will repay existing lenders, including Downing LLP, a UK investment firm that has been involved in Kao Data’s growth over the past decade.
“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, chief financial officer at Kao Data.
“We are delighted to be working with one of the world’s leading digital infrastructure lenders in Deutsche Bank,” he added.
Rishi Sunak has pledged to turn the UK into an AI superpower, last year dedicating £100m of public funds to semiconductors in order to boost Britain in the global AI race. He will also need data centres.
But the government sparked criticism last year after rejecting a plan to build a data centre on a former quarry next to the M25 partly because it might ruin the view from the motorway’s bridges.
Last year in May, Kao Data announced a new £350m investment into a data centre in Manchester, followed by the completion of another facility in Harlow in November.
