London-headquartered data centre business Ark Data Centres is expected to come to market imminently, IJGlobal has learnt.

The owners could look to sell the entirety of the business, or go for a capital raise, according to a source. This moves following a refinancing by the company earlier this year.

Ark is majority owned by Elliott Management (the activist fund), and Revcap (which holds it in a dedicated vehicle for Ark Data Centres investments) has a minority stake.

Advisers are understood not yet to have been appointed.

Ark’s portfolio currently consists 3 sites in the south of England:

• Cody Park – Farnborough
• Meridian Park – North London
• Spring Park – Corsham

It also has 3 others under construction:

• Alliance Park – West London (set to go live in 2023)
• Longcross Park – Chertsey (set to go live in 2023)
• Union Park – Hayes (set to go live this year)

A source told IJGlobal that Ark is an attractive investment for 2 main reasons. This primarily is because of the size of its portfolio, and then due to its client base – the business is understood to have notable government contracts with the likes of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Ark was selected by the government for a JV called Crown Hosting in 2015 – which meant it served all of the UK’s public sector data centre requirements.

As well as government bodies, its clientele includes:

• telecoms companies
• financial institutions
• blue chip corporates