Fengate Asset Management has invested $1.8 billion in eStruxture to expand the company’s data centres across Canada.

The investment sets a record for investment in the Canadian data centre sector, the companies said in a news release. Fengate and eStruxture announced the transaction’s completion in a news release on Wednesday.

The data centre provider is the largest in Canada with locations in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. 

With the deal, Fengate significantly increased its stake in eStruxture. The investment will enable the expansion of Montreal-based eStruxture’s 15 state-of-the-art facilities across the country to meet demand for data-centre capacity.

Toronto-based Fengate’s investment includes newly-raised capital from a group of institutional secondary investors co-led by Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm that acted on behalf of its clients, and Pantheon, a leading specialist global private markets and secondary investor. Fengate is investing on behalf of Fengate Infrastructure Fund III, Fengate Infrastructure Fund IV and their affiliated entities, including an investment by LiUNA’s Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada.

Washington, D.C.-based LiUNA is the Laborers’ International Union of North America.

Jonathan Wener and the Montreal-based Wener Family Office, along with Todd Coleman, the founder, president, and CEO of eStruxture, and the accompanying management team, are also reinvesting a significant albeit undisclosed portion of their holdings in eStruxture.

“For years, Fengate has had a front-row seat to the meteoric success of eStruxture, and that intimate perspective gives us full confidence to continue our relationship through this next exciting growth phase,” said Lou Serafini, Fengate’s president and CEO.

George Theodoropoulos, managing Partner at Fengate, said digital is a sector focus for the company’s infrastructure business, and the investment helps the firm realize its digital infrastructure strategy. Coleman said the partnership marks a transformation for eStruxture.

The companies said eStruxture is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of major technology players as they expand cloud regions across Canada, and AI and machine learning become integral to business operations.

The investment will accelerate eStruxture’s hyperscale growth providing a launch pad for transformative expansion and solidifying its leadership in Canada’s digital infrastructure market, according to the firms.

“Eight years ago, eStruxture was nothing but an idea,” said Jonathan Wener. “Today, we are Canada’s leading data centre platform. Notwithstanding all we have accomplished, we believe the best is yet to come.”

Pictured: Lou Serafini, Fengate’s president and CEO (left) and Todd Coleman, founder, president and CEO of eStruxture.

Photo: CNW Group/eStruxture