Kotak Special Situations Fund to invest Rs 1,000 cr in Sify Infinit Spaces

Investment will be in Compulsorily Convertible Debentures, which turn into equity based on Sify's operational performance over a specified period

Kotak Special Situations Fund (KSSF), managed by Kotak Investment Advisors, is investing up to Rs 1,000 crore ($135 million) in Sify Infinit Spaces (SISL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sify. SISL is a 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 Rs 4,000 crore (USD 530 million).

Raju Vegesna, Chairman and Managing Director, Sify said, “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.”

Srini Sriniwasan, 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.”

----------------------------

Disclosure: Entities controlled by the Kotak family have a significant holding in Business Standard Pvt Ltd