GI Partners, a San Francisco, CA-based private investment firm, closed its inaugural Data Infrastructure Fund, which totaled $1.8 billion in commitments from a broad group of investors.
The GI Data Infrastructure Fund was oversubscribed and surpassed its initial target of $1.25 billion. GI Data Infrastructure’s diverse global investor base represents 11 countries including sovereign wealth funds, pensions, financial institutions, investment management firms, foundations, and family offices.
The fund continues the firm’s 20-year history of control-oriented investing in hard asset infrastructure companies and properties underpinning the digital economy. It will invest across four data infrastructure subsectors data centers, data transport, wireless access, and tech-enabled infrastructure, primarily in North America.
The team, which works closely with the firm’s private equity and real estate teams and leverages the firm’s broad resources, is led by Steve Smith, who was previously CEO of Equinix (the world’s largest data center company), and Mark Prybutok, an experienced data infrastructure investor.
The fund was activated in January 2020 when it invested in DR Fortress, the premier data center business in Hawaii. In June 2020, it acquired Blue Stream Fiber, a high-speed broadband provider in Florida. GI Partners’ other exited investments in the IT infrastructure sector include The Telx Group, The Planet, SoftLayer Technologies, ViaWest, and Wave Broadband.
FinSMEs
09/09/2020