The Raxio Group (Raxio), a premier pan-African data centre developer and operator, and Meridiam, a global developer, asset and fund manager specialising in sustainable infrastructure and energy transition projects have announced a partnership to deploy a network of data centres across the African continent
Under this agreement, Meridiam will invest US$48mn to support the continued deployment of data centres in Africa, where both Raxio and Meridiam already have strong local presence. Meridiam’s investment is made alongside Raxio’s founding equity partner, Roha Group who established Raxio in 2018, and has been funding the company since inception.
With the rise of connectivity on the African continent, Raxio’s facilities are built to boost digital transformation, economic growth and job creation, whilst using state-of-the-art design and technologies to minimise the impact on the environment. From the design phase, equipment choices are adapted to the local environmental and climatic conditions with a view to continuously reduce energy consumption. Raxio is also actively working on connecting its facilities to local renewable generation capabilities such as solar power, in addition to the hydropower sources it is currently using.
Raxio’s data centres will also support the growth of the African IT sector and will be a catalyst for highly skilled job creation in all the planned countries. To improve latency and connectivity for businesses, Raxio works with local, regional, and international connectivity providers to share ducts and ensure its sites are located along major fibre routes, ensuring its facilities are true connectivity hubs in the local markets.
Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Meridiam as our new investment partner in our shared vision. This investment comes at an ideal time, as we have continued our expansion activities by investing in our third facility – in the Democratic Republic of Congo – following our first flagship facility in Uganda and launching the construction of our Ethiopian data centre. It is testament to our strategy of developing an Africa-wide network of local, interconnected facilities, that provide our customers with affordable, state-of-the-art solutions for their IT infrastructure, in a neutral, “always on” environment.”
Mathieu Peller, COO Africa for Meridiam, said, “Investing in Raxio’s data centre platform was a natural move for us, as it fits our purpose to delivering sustainable infrastructure that improves the quality of people’s lives. We are excited to contribute to developing Africa’s digital infrastructure, by helping to roll-out energy efficient data centres that will drive the digital transformation of the continent and be a catalyst for highly skilled jobs creation, whilst respecting the local environment.”
Raxio’s data centres are designed and built to Tier III standards, with an availability rate over 99.9% a year. They are fully redundant and able to operate independently of the power grid for extended periods of time, and do not require any shutdown when equipment needs maintenance or replacement.
In the continent’s transition energy sector, Meridiam has already successfully invested in:
•For solar power plants in Senegal, offering some of the lowest tariffs in Africa.
•Tulu Moye,a geothermal power plant and the first IPP (Independent Power Producer) in Ethiopia.
•The Kinguele Aval Hydropower plant, which will deliver about 13% of the electricity needs of Libreville, the capital city of Gabon.
•The Biokala biomass power plant in Côte d’Ivoire, the largest biomass power plant in sub-Saharan Africa which will be fuelled from agricultural waste and will meet the electricity needs of the equivalent of 1.7 million people per year.
•NeOT, a company rolling out 300,000 solar home systems and mini-grids across West Africa.
