Kotak Special Situations Fund to invest INR 1000 crores in Sify’s Data Center Business

Kotak Special Situations Fund (KSSF), managed by Kotak Investment Advisors Limited (KIAL) and whose LPs include leading Sovereign Wealth Funds, and Sify Technologies Limited (‘Sify’), India’s most comprehensive ICT service & solutions provider, today announced an agreement under which KSSF will invest up to INR 1,000 crore (USD 135 million) in Sify Infinit Spaces Limited (SISL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sify. SISL is a leading data centre services player in India, serving Indian and Global enterprise customers and hyperscalers from its ten operational Data Centres across the country.

Under the transaction, the KSSF investment will be in the form of Compulsorily Convertible Debentures, which will convert into equity based on the operational performance of SIS over a specified reference period. The funds would be used to invest in SIS’ current plan under execution of developing new Data Centres in Mumbai, Noida, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and for investment in renewable energy requirements for its operational and new Data Centres for up to INR 4,000 crore (USD 530 million).

Raju Vegesna, Chairman and Managing Director, Sify said, “India is set for significant economic growth and is becoming the first choice destination for both global businesses and investors. India is witnessing the rise of Information technology-driven entrepreneurship and business growth. The current capacity of the Data Centre industry in India is expanding at an unprecedented pace, powered by wider cloud adoption, 5G rollout and accelerated digital transformation programmes of enterprises. We are delighted to partner with KSSF as a part of this journey to build world-class Data Centre facilities for our customers to benefit from the large scale digital transformation of India.”

MP Vijay Kumar, Chief Financial Officer, Sify said, “The hyperscalers and enterprise customers have shown high confidence in colocating to our Data Centres over time and these engagements continue to scale. The KSSF partnership will give us access to long-term capital, beyond the present investment. We will, as always, be prudent in our business judgements and build facilities close to assessment of customer demand and in a modular way, deploying the latest and most cost-effective technologies for both design and operations.”

Srini Srinivasan, Managing Director, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited said, “We are delighted to partner with Sify to build out the Data Centre capacity in India and contribute to the goal of a digitally savvy India, based on the strength of Sify’s entrepreneurial capabilities and experienced management team. Data Centres are at the core of the country’s Digital India ambition, and we believe that with vibrant entrepreneurship in the digital space, rich media consumption by an exploding well-connected population and increasing requirements for local storage of data, India’s Data Centre sector is a long term secular opportunity.”

Eshwar Karra, CEO-Kotak Special Situations Fund, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited said, “Our investment in SIS is in line with our strategy of providing capital to unique India opportunities that require flexible and customised capital solutions, which enables us to grow with our partners and participate in their success while providing value-added support and opportunistic capital in size and scale.”