UK's Digital 9 sells stake in Verne Global, initiates strategic review (updated)
27/11/2023 18:01
(Adds details on strategic review and sale, and background in
paragraphs 2 to 7)
Nov 27 (Reuters) - British investment firm Digital 9
Infrastructure (D9) DGI9.L initiated a strategic review of its
portfolio on Monday and said it had agreed to sell its stake in
data group Verne Global for $575 million as it seeks to cut debt
and boost its finances.
D9 in October, had said it was assessing a divestment of its
Verne Global shareholding and had received indicative offers. It
has now sold the stake to funds managed by private equity
investment company Ardian France SA.
The disposal will enable the company to pay down about
300 million pounds ($373.83 million) of an existing credit
facility while reviewing options for "maximising shareholder
value."
The FTSE-250 company said initiating a strategic review
before the Verne deal "could have undermined the process to
maximise shareholder value from Verne Global without directly
helping to address (D9's) financial uncertainty."
D9 had acquired Verne Global, which runs a data centre
campus in Iceland, for 231 million pounds in September 2021.
The company also added that it intends to review the
skills and composition of the board as a part of the review.
D9 primarily invests in digital infrastructure assets
such as data centres and fibre systems.
($1 = 0.8025 pounds)
(Reporting by Sri Hari N S in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim
Zahid)
((SriHari.NS@thomsonreuters.com;))