AetherGrid Digital Infrastructure — Executive Summary
The investment highlights, the summary metrics and the transaction at a glance for AetherGrid's hyperscale and carrier-neutral data centre platform.
Section 1 · Business Plan
Executive Summary
The investment highlights, the summary metrics and the transaction at a glance for AetherGrid’s hyperscale and carrier-neutral data centre platform.
AetherGrid Digital Infrastructure Holdings (Pty) Ltd is a
next-generation digital infrastructure company focused on developing,
owning and operating hyperscale, carrier-neutral data centre campuses
across South Africa. The Company will establish a network of
interconnected digital infrastructure parks in Gauteng, Cape Town and
Durban delivering colocation, hyperscale cloud and AI-ready leasing,
interconnection and internet-exchange services, disaster recovery, and
edge computing. Positioned as an infrastructure asset rather than a
technology company, AetherGrid is designed around the proven global
model of operators such as Equinix, Digital Realty and Teraco, and aims
to become Southern Africa’s largest privately-owned digital
infrastructure platform by 2036.
The programme develops 155 MW of critical IT load across four phases
at a total capital cost of R22.5 billion, funded by a stack of sponsor
equity, strategic investors, infrastructure funds, development finance
institutions and senior debt. At maturity the platform generates
approximately R11.2 billion of annual revenue at a 58% EBITDA margin —
the high-margin, contracted, recurring-revenue profile that has made
data centres a recognised infrastructure asset class alongside airports,
ports and energy networks, and a natural fit for pension funds,
infrastructure funds and DFIs.
1.1 Investment highlights
- A large, structurally under-supplied market.
South Africa is the largest data centre market in Africa (roughly 41% of
continental capacity), yet Johannesburg’s ~300 MW of live capacity plus
~200 MW pipeline sits against national demand growth of ~1,000 MW; cloud
migration, AI workloads, financial-services digitisation and
data-sovereignty mandates are driving a multi-year build cycle. - An infrastructure asset class with recurring
revenue. More than 90% of revenue derives from long-term (3–15
year) contracts with above-95% customer retention, producing the
annuity-like cash flows infrastructure and pension investors
seek. - AI as a demand supercycle. Generative-AI
workloads require high-density racks (exceeding 30–80 kW), liquid
cooling and large electrical capacity; AetherGrid is designed AI-ready
from inception, with liquid-cooling capability and high power
density. - Carrier-neutral interconnection moat.
Vendor-neutral campuses connected to subsea cables and internet
exchanges create dense interconnection ecosystems with high switching
costs — the structural moat that underpins the incumbent’s
dominance. - Sustainability-led. A renewable strategy
targeting 80% renewable energy by Year 10 via solar and PPAs both lowers
energy cost and meets the carbon requirements of global cloud
tenants.
financials
This Memorandum preserves the sponsor’s headline revenue, EBITDA,
margins and capital programme exactly, but independently re-derives
everything below EBITDA and reaches four candid conclusions. First, net
profit is lower than the sponsor states: after charging full
depreciation on the asset base and interest on drawn debt, re-derived
Year-10 NPAT is about R3.6bn versus the sponsor’s R4.95bn — the headline
profit understates D&A and interest. Second, the platform is
conservatively geared (about 27% debt), which de-risks the debt — DSCR
is thin only in the Year-3 ramp (0.84x) and strong thereafter — but
places the capital burden on equity and makes returns dependent on the
exit. Third, the returns are nonetheless robust: even at a conservative
13x EBITDA exit (versus the sponsor’s 18x), the equity IRR is about 28%
at a ~6.0x multiple, so the investment does not require an aggressive
multiple to work. Fourth, the binding operational constraint is power:
securing timely grid connection (20 MW requests face 24–36 month
timelines) and building captive renewable supply are the true gating
items — not demand, which is abundant.
1.2 Summary metrics
| Metric | Y3 | Y5 | Y7 | Y9 | Y10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operational capacity (MW) | 25 | 60 | 105 | 140 | 155 |
| Revenue (R m) | 850 | 2,700 | 5,600 | 9,000 | 11,200 |
| EBITDA (R m) | 380 | 1,420 | 3,150 | 5,250 | 6,550 |
| EBITDA margin (%) | 45 | 53 | 56 | 58 | 58 |
| Re-derived NPAT (R m) | (226) | 228 | 1,234 | 2,685 | 3,608 |
| DSCR (x) | 0.84 | 1.96 | 1.93 | 3.53 | 4.66 |
The opportunity. AetherGrid offers infrastructure
and equity investors exposure to a scarcity-priced, contracted,
high-margin asset class in Africa’s largest digital market, with a
credible path to a projected enterprise value exceeding R85 billion
(conservative) to R118 billion (sponsor) by Year 10. The sections that
follow build the case with full market, competitive, operational and
financial analysis, and disclose the power, lease-up and exit-multiple
dependencies on which the investment turns.
1.3 Transaction at a glance
| Parameter | Detail |
|---|---|
| Opportunity | 155 MW hyperscale & carrier-neutral data centre platform across SA |
| Capital programme | R22.5bn deployed over 10 years (4 campuses) |
| Funding stack | ~R16.5bn equity/quasi-equity + R6.0bn senior debt (73:27) |
| Steady-state revenue / EBITDA | R11.2bn / R6.55bn (58%) at Year 10 |
| Re-derived returns (13x exit) | Project IRR 30.7% · equity IRR 28.0% · 6.0x |
| Sponsor returns (18x exit) | Equity IRR 33.1% · 8.1x (validates sponsor 31%/7.5x) |
| Binding constraints | Grid-connection timing; campus lease-up |
| Target funders | Strategic investors, infrastructure & pension funds, DFIs, lenders |
| Exit | Infrastructure-fund sale / strategic / REIT (Years 9–10) |
The transaction offers infrastructure-grade exposure to Africa’s
largest and fastest-growing digital market, with contracted, recurring,
high-margin cash flows and tangible asset backing. Its returns are
governed by two operational variables the plan makes central: securing
power on schedule and leasing up the campuses.
Confidential — this business plan is provided to prospective investors and lenders for evaluation purposes only and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written consent of AetherGrid Digital Infrastructure Holdings (Pty) Ltd.