Global Switch aims for HK IPO at £9B valuation
Just over two years after being acquired by a consortium of Chinese investors, UK data centre developer Global Switch is preparing for a stock market listing in Hong Kong later this year that could value it at more than £9 billion ($11.52 billion).
The Britain-based high tech facility developer is said to be hiring investment banks in the coming weeks to help list the company after years of speculation that it could go public.
A mainland consortium led by entrepreneur Li Qiang and backed by Jiangsu Sha Steel Group and Ping An Capital had paid £2.4 billion to purchase a controlling 49 percent stake in Global Switch from British developers David and Simon Reuben. In 2018, investors including AVIC Trust and Hong Kong affiliates of China Citic Bank and Haoyue Capital put in another £2.1 billion to acquire a further 24.99 percent of the company.
IPO Slated for 2019
The listing for Global Switch is planned to take place this year, according to the UK press account, with a company shareholder cited by Sky News suggesting that a £8.4 billion valuation discussed last year was likely to be surpassed in an eventual flotation,
Global Switch had previously indicated its intent to achieve a public listing on a “leading” international stock exchange in Europe, Asia or North America in 2019.
The listing would give Global Switch’s investors a chance to quickly monetise the 340,000 square metres (3,600,000 square feet) of data center space that the company currently operates across Europe and Asia Pacific.
Establishing a Hong Kong Presence
When the mainland takeover of Global Switch was announced in December 2016, Li Qiang’s data centre service provider Beijing Daily-Tech, together with China Telecom Global (the international arm of China Telecom), had already agreed to occupy two of five buildings in a joint venture data centre that the companies were developing northern Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O.
Mainland Investors Take Hold of Global Data Warehouses
In addition to having facilities in Hong Kong, the listing in the Asian financial hub also reflects the Chinese characteristics of Global Switch’s shareholder register, and its mission to provide a tech backbone for mainland companies expanding globally.
At the time of Daily-Tech’s buyout in 2016, the company’s executive chairman and chief executive John Corcoran said that Global Switch aims “to become the data centre provider of choice for new customers from across the globe, especially Chinese companies growing in Asia and Europe, and Western companies growing in China.
Last July, a consortium of Chinese investors including AVIC Trust and Hong Kong affiliates of China Citic Bank, Haoyue Capital and Jiangsu Sha Steel paid £2.1 billion ($2.78 billion) to acquire a 24.99 percent stake in Global Switch, taking the mainland-based interests to a total of 75 percent.
While some analysts have raised security concerns about having a mainland firm hold the keys to corporate data, in a recent statement Global Switch’s management defended the company’s neutrality.
“(Global Switch) releases space to its customers who fit out their own secure cages with their own servers – these cannot be accessed by Global Switch nor its investors,” the company pointed out.
Global Switch is also part-owned by Aldersgate Investments, a vehicle set up by the billionaire British developer brothers David and Simon Reuben, who have long backed Global Switch, which was founded in 1998.
Aiming at a $12B Data Centre Market
Focusing on the European and Asian markets, Global Switch builds and operates high quality, technical real estate with the right power, cooling and physical security required by IT service providers, the company said in its statement.
The Asia Pacific data center construction market is estimated to generate revenue of around $12 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate of over nine percent during 2017-2023, thanks to increasing demand for cloud-based services, according to the market research platform, Research and Market.
Investments in millions of dollars towards facilities construction and expansion projects to accommodate the demand for services is promoting the development of the market especially in China and India, it said.
source mingtiandi
Industry: Data Centre News
Latest Jobs
-
- Information Security Risk Consultant, London. ISO 27005
- London
- 60000
-
REFCH7901 Information Security Risk Consultant, London. ISO 27005 Information Security Risk consultant needed for a London based client. The ability to achieve SC security clearance will be required. ISO 27005 Risk Assessment experience is essential. The role will cover, Risk identification, Assessment and Advisory consulting. This is a client facing role, single client- not multiple. Experience working with multiple teams and internal stakeholders is essential. The information Security Risk Consultant should ideally have a breath of information Security and IT technology based security experience. Prior experience within the public sector is desirable, but not essential. Broad knowledge across Security IT transformation, Cloud is also key. Broad experience across GRC, iso27001, NIST is key. Ongoing support and training provided. Apply today for more information, all details kept in confidence.
-
- Google Cloud platform Security Engineer, Contract, inside IR35
- United Kingdom
- -
-
REF CH7897 Google Cloud platform Security Engineer, Contract, Inside IR35 Looking for a Google Cloud platform Security Engineer will define, document, design, implement, harden and generally improve the security capability of a Google Cloud Platform. The ability to configure, and deploy the following Google Cloud Platform security solutioons is essential; Command Security Centre, Cluster Security, APIGEE, GCP Cloud Armor Hands on technical expertise security experience with Terraform, Kubernetes Security, Container (Docker) security, Secret Manager is essential as is experience securing Google Kubernetes Engine Workloads. It is essential that you have a proven track record of securing a GCP environment and expertise in automating that with Terraform. Scripting experience with the above where appropriate is a key ability. You will be highly technical and have the ability to engage with stakeholders to ultimately deliver a secure and hardened Google Cloud Platform.
-
- Security Analyst, London. Financial Services. End user.
- London
- 55000
-
CH7885. Security Analyst, London. Financial Services. End user. Immediate role. £55,000 Security Analyst needed to monitor and manage a security suite of tools within Financial Servicecs end user . The Security Analyst will be responsible monitoring, configuring, fine tuning, incident management and generally improving the security tool capability. Specific experience with CyberArk, Tripwire Log Center and Tripwire Enterprise is highly desirable). Current experience with Vulnerability management and penetration testing is highly desirable. Specifically the ability to effectively manage 3rd party pen tests. You will be working within a specialist security team reporting to the CISO. Experience working within a regulated end user environment within financial services is highly desirable. This role will run a hyrbid working schedule, partly remote, partly office based in London (once permitted) This is an exclusive role to DCL Search & Selection. https://calendly.com/chris-holt/call-with-chris-holt-dcl-search
-
- IAM Consultant- Identity Governance
- United Kingdom
- Upto £80,000 plus benefits
-
Identity and Access Management Consutlant is required for this established business who put their employees first. the role entails • Develop and maintain IAM services. • Further develop IAM tool integration with Service Now to provide automated JML processes and application access requests and fulfilment. • Provide guidance over Role Based Access in terms of Location based Roles, Application Roles and Business Roles and act as SME over any future RBAC project. • Work closely with our other Technology teams on integrating IAM services with Technology and business systems to increase efficiency through automation around areas such as JML processes, application access request fulfilment and attestation. • Work with the Governance Risk & Compliance (GRC) team to provide application access attestations and toxic combination alerting and reporting. • Involvement with Identity Management initiatives such as Single Sign On (SSO) and Privileged Access Management (PAM), to ensure security and business processes are in line with industry best practice. • Assist in ensuring that all IAM capabilities are mapped to internal processes, policies, and standards. Develop metrics to measure and improve the alignment. • Complete monthly review and report on sensitive group access, i.e., service accounts, admin accounts, etc. validating I&O processes are effective. • Provide information to both internal and external Auditors in response to findings. • Collate audit evidence for AAF audit and control reviews, taking responsibility for identifying service and process improvements to ensure compliance with our controls and standards. We are looking for someone with Hands on technical experience with the IAM tools, you need to have been involved in the integration of the IAM solution into 3rd party software like Servicenow, You will have worked with an IAM tools that are focused into Identity Goveranance, like RSA, CA Identity Suite, Fischer Identity, Hid Global, IBM IGL, Net IQ Identity Goverance, Omada, Ping or Oracle Post covid, this role will invovle a mix of home and office work, the business have a number of office spread across the UK so locaton is flexible for this position