AetherGrid Digital Infrastructure Business Plan › Section 8 › Financial Plan

8.1 Basis of preparation

Sponsor anchors preserved; below-EBITDA independently
re-derived. Revenue, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, the R22.5 billion
capital programme, the funding stack and the campus schedule are the
sponsor’s figures, preserved exactly. Depreciation (by asset-class life,
buildings, electrical, cooling, fibre, security), interest (on the drawn
senior-debt schedule), South African corporate tax (27% with
assessed-loss carry-forward under section 20, capped at 80% of taxable
income), working capital, the revolving facility, the full
three-statement model, DSCR and returns are independently re-derived.
All figures are ZAR. The balance sheet ties to zero in every projection
year.

8.2 Projected profit & loss (R m)

Net profit turns positive from Year 5 as lease-up lifts revenue past
the fixed depreciation and interest base; accumulated assessed losses
from the ramp shelter cash tax into the operating phase. The memo line
shows the sponsor’s headline NPAT for comparison, consistently above the
re-derived figure by the amount of under-charged D&A and
interest.

8.3 Projected cash flow (R m)

8.4 Projected balance sheet (R m)

8.5 Debt, gearing and cover

Conservative gearing is a double-edged finding. The
funding stack is roughly 73% equity and 27% senior debt, low gearing for
infrastructure, where 50–65% debt is common. This de-risks the debt:
DSCR is thin only in the Year-3 ramp (0.84x) and then rises through 1.3x
by Year 4 to comfortably above 3x by Year 9, so lenders are well
covered. The trade-off is that equity carries most of the capital burden
and returns lean heavily on the exit. A future re-leveraging once
campuses stabilise could release equity value, and is a natural
optimisation the plan flags.

8.6 Returns, exit and sensitivity

The exit multiple is the swing variable, but the deal works
without an aggressive one. Global data centre peers (Equinix,
Digital Realty) trade at roughly 20–25x EV/EBITDA; the sponsor assumes
an 18x exit on Year-10 EBITDA of R6,550m, implying an enterprise value
of R117.9bn and, after net debt, equity value of about R119bn. Applying
a conservative 13x, a meaningful South African country- and
currency-risk discount to global peers, still yields an enterprise value
of about R85bn and equity value near R86bn. The re-derived project IRR
is 30.7%, and the equity IRR is approximately 28.0% at the conservative
13x (a 6.0x equity multiple) rising to about 33.1% at the sponsor’s 18x
(8.1x), the latter closely reproducing the sponsor’s stated 31% IRR and
7.5x multiple, which validates the sponsor’s returns while showing they
depend on the aggressive multiple.

8.7 Lender covenant and coverage dashboard

The table sets out an indicative senior-debt covenant package and the
platform’s projected position. The conservative gearing produces
comfortable cover once campuses stabilise; the only pressure point is
the Year-3 ramp, which the debt-service reserve and a distribution
lock-up are sized to bridge.

A lender reading this dashboard sees a well-covered credit whose only
material risk window is the Year-3 lease-up. The mitigations, a funded
six-month debt-service reserve, a distribution lock-up until DSCR clears
1.30x, completion support during construction, and the low absolute
gearing, make the senior debt robust. The conservative structure that
constrains equity returns is precisely what makes the debt attractive,
an intentional trade the plan makes explicit.

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.