NextDC raises $40m from investors

Data centre operator NextDC has listed on the Australian Stock Exchange after raising $40 million from institutional and retail shareholders.

The company – headed by high-profile Pipe Networks founder Bevan Slattery – announced the initial public offering (IPO) about five weeks ago, after revealing intentions to list back in June.

It was part of a bid to raise $100 million to build and operate carrier-neutral data centres in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

The figure was made up of a $40 million IPO, a $40 million credit facility with an unnamed bank, and a $20 million injection from Slattery himself.

Chairman Roger Clarke said today the company had succeeded with its IPO and would commence trading at 11.00am today on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) under the ticker "NXT".

He said NextDC was on track to bring its Brisbane data centre online in March 2011 and its Port Melbourne facility would be ready by November 2011.

The company already has an anchor tenant in Port Melbourne, after HarbourMSP ditched a deal with E3 Networks to build a data centre and instead decided to lease the space from NextDC.

NextDC was also assessing land in Sydney to construct a data centre. A location announcement was expected about March 2011, Clarke said.