Rack Centre is the first vendor neutral data centre in Nigeria designed to the Up-Time Institute’s Tier III standard. Exponential growth in demand for data storage in Nigeria led Rack Centre to seek to expand its existing capacity, and consequently the bank approached Standard Chartered for a USD 11 million loan to fund the expansion project.

Due to single obligor limits, SCB approached GuarantCo to provide a partial credit guarantee of up to USD 9.35 million to enable them to extend the required 5-year USD 11 million loan. The loan will enable Rack Centre to double its existing data storage capacity and to refinance existing short-term debt with more appropriate longer tenor financing.

The intervention of GuarantCo enabled SCB to provide the entire loan facility required by the client, enabling the expansion of the facility and extending the tenor profile of the businesses’ debt, allowing Rack Centre to better manage its asset and liability profile.

The lack of cost and energy efficient ICT infrastructure is a major constraint to doing business in in Nigeria. Rack Centre will expand the availability of high quality/availability ICT infrastructure which is critical for ICT systems. This improves private sector connectivity and public sector competitiveness.

Vendor neutral datacentres play a similar role to major airport hubs. In the same way as multiple airlines interconnect and offer access to any destination, the vendor neutral datacentre acts as a hub for many Internet Service Providers, providing choice and resilience. As such, they form a critical part ICT infrastructure. Rack Centre’s development will help to develop the sector and improve services to businesses in Nigeria.