Cordiant Digital Infrastructure
“Buy, Build & Grow” in the essential plumbing of the Internet
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure ($CORD.L) is a £700 million London listed closed-ended fund which invests in infrastructure assets such as data centres, telecom towers, and fibre-optic asset businesses.
Structured as an investment trust and looking to capitalise on the surging growth in data consumption and traffic, the company IPOed on the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2021 when it raised £370 million at £1 per share;1 £185 million were raised in June 2021 from the issuance of C-shares (also at £1),2 which were then converted into ordinary shares in January 2022 along with the placement of new shares for £200 million at £1.06; a further £40 million was raised during the period through the exercise of subscription shares (which were granted to IPO investors in a 1-for-8 basis), bringing the total to £795 million.
CORD is managed by Cordiant Capital, a specialist assets manager based in Montreal: founded in 1999, it manages US$3.5 billion across infrastructure private equity, infrastructure private credit and real assets.3 Its Managing Partner & CEO is Benn Mikula, who has over 30 years of experience in digital and related areas including as Head of European Technology Investment Banking at JP Morgan, while the Digital Infrastructure Team is led by Steven Marshall, former President of American Tower Corporation and CEO of National Grid Wireless (where he led their wireless tower infrastructure business in the US and UK).4 Shareholders are a varied universe of (mostly) UK asset managers, with no one holding more than 9%.