Spark goals to promote between 50% and 75% of its information middle unit, with the stake anticipated to fetch round NZ$550 million (US$327.5 million)
In sum – what to know:
PEP deal shut – Spark NZ is reportedly finalizing a sale of a majority stake in its NZ$550M+ information middle enterprise to Pacific Fairness Companions.
Vital divestment – The telco plans to promote 50–75% of the unit, doubtlessly elevating round NZ$550M (US$327.5M).
AI-driven competitors – The public sale drew sturdy curiosity from international buyers, fueled by rising demand for AI-capable infrastructure.
Spark New Zealand is near finalizing a take care of Pacific Fairness Companions (PEP) for a majority stake in its NZ$550 million-plus information middle platform, in keeping with the Australian Monetary Assessment. The sale marks the conclusion of a hotly contested public sale fueled by surging demand for AI-ready infrastructure.
The telco goals to promote between 50% and 75% of its information middle unit, with the stake anticipated to fetch round NZ$550 million (US$327.5 million). Spark first disclosed its plans to hunt a co-investor in February 2025, saying the transfer would assist fund future information middle investments.
The corporate careworn that no settlement had been reached and that it might replace buyers consistent with steady disclosure guidelines.
A growth-driven technique amid a troublesome market
Spark’s information middle footprint presently consists of roughly a dozen amenities totaling 22 MW of capability, with one other 100 MW-plus within the improvement pipeline. Its technique blends massive, centralized information facilities — together with three in Auckland, plus amenities in Waikato, Wellington, and Christchurch — with regional edge websites in Hamilton, Tauranga, and Dunedin.
Income from the division rose 13.6% year-on-year within the first half of FY2025 to NZ$25 million (US$14.8 million), underscoring regular demand for internet hosting and cloud companies in New Zealand’s digital financial system. The deliberate enlargement, nonetheless, represents a serious bounce in capability that may require vital capital funding — one thing Spark is now in search of to share with a accomplice.
In her February feedback, Spark Chair Justine Smyth framed the co-investment method as a technique to “speed up our information middle progress technique” regardless of a difficult working setting. “The dimensions and tempo of decay in buying and selling circumstances we have now skilled over the past 12 months has been substantial,” Smyth stated, pointing to weaker IT spending and heightened cellular competitors. “This solely hardens our resolve to reply quickly, to remodel what’s in our management, and to set the foundations for Spark to as soon as once more ship sturdy shareholder returns.”
Potential suitors lining up
Studies from June steered vital curiosity past Pacific Fairness Companions, from each native and worldwide buyers. Further Australian non-public fairness and asset administration corporations BGH Capital and QIC had been named as probably bidders, alongside U.S.-based infrastructure heavyweights Stonepeak and TPG Capital, and MUFG-controlled Igneo Infrastructure Companions.
Non-public capital has proven sturdy urge for food for digital infrastructure globally, with information facilities more and more seen as long-term, inflation-protected property that profit from secular progress in cloud, AI, and edge computing demand.
A part of a broader restructuring
The sale course of comes as Spark continues to reshape its asset portfolio and shore up its steadiness sheet. Earlier this 12 months, the corporate bought its remaining ~17% stake in tower operator Connexa to Canadian pension fund CDPQ for NZ$311 million (US$184 million). Connexa is now collectively owned by CDPQ and Ontario Academics’ Pension Plan.
The tower divestment, just like the proposed information middle stake sale, kinds a part of Spark’s broader cost-cutting and debt-reduction agenda. Following a 12 months by which earnings fell 78%, Spark is focusing on NZ$80–NZ$100 million (US$48–$60 million) in labor and operational expenditure cuts this 12 months, and as much as NZ$140 million (US$84 million) in annual financial savings inside two years.
Balancing enlargement and prudence
For Spark, bringing in a co-investor might obtain two strategic goals: securing the capital to ship a deliberate 120MW of recent information middle capability, whereas additionally lowering monetary pressure amid ongoing market headwinds. The enlargement would dramatically scale its function in New Zealand’s cloud and information internet hosting market, positioning the corporate to seize rising demand from enterprises and hyperscalers alike.
On the identical time, the transfer displays a rising business pattern of telecom operators partnering with infrastructure buyers to unlock worth from digital property, whereas sharing the dangers and capital necessities of large-scale buildouts. For instance:
The mannequin affords telcos a technique to keep aggressive within the fast-growing cloud and AI infrastructure house with out shouldering the total capital burden — whereas additionally tapping into the experience of specialist information middle operators and buyers.
