AVK secures Partners Group backing for data centres

AVK has secured a majority investment from Partners Group, including an initial commitment of more than $1 billion.

The deal is the first time AVK has taken external funding in its 36-year history. Chief Executive Officer Ben Pritchard will retain a significant shareholding alongside the existing management team.

Investing on behalf of its clients, Partners Group will become the majority shareholder in the UK and European supplier of power systems for data centres and AI infrastructure. It will also provide capital to support the buildout of on-site infrastructure under an energy-as-a-service model for data centre operators.

The funding will support AVK’s strategy to fund, develop, own, and operate on-site power systems, including microgrids. The company already has a pipeline of more than 2GW tied to that plan.

The investment comes as data centre operators across Europe face growing pressure to secure electricity more quickly, with grid connection delays and constrained power availability becoming bigger obstacles to expansion. AVK says on-site generation can help reduce delays by bringing supply closer to the facilities that need it.

AVK has built its business around prime, standby, modular, and dispatchable power systems, with a focus on mission-critical installations. Its operations are supported by a manufacturing facility in Haydock, north-west England, and a workforce of nearly 400 across ten hubs in the UK and Europe.

New funding

Under AVK’s energy-as-a-service model, customers would buy electricity through power purchase agreements rather than take on the upfront cost and development risk of large on-site energy projects. That shifts financing and ownership of the assets to AVK and its backers.

For private equity and infrastructure investors, the appeal lies in rapidly rising demand from AI and data centre projects, which are putting greater strain on existing power networks. The sector has become a focal point for investors seeking exposure to both digital infrastructure and electricity supply.

“Speed-to-power is now a defining opportunity for European data centre operators. Our new partnership with Partners Group will allow us to meet our customers exactly where the market demands. From the moment we launched our first microgrid, we recognized the challenge and the opportunity facing developers and operators globally. By adding capital to our power solutions portfolio, we can turn speed-to-power from an ambition into action. I am excited to lead AVK into this new chapter alongside Partners Group, leveraging the firm’s deep operational expertise in the data centre sector and power markets,” Pritchard said.

Partners Group has previously invested in decentralised energy assets in Europe and in data centres, including the pan-Nordic platform atNorth. It has also invested in behind-the-meter data centre energy providers in the US, giving it experience in a market where operators increasingly seek localised sources of supply.

Market pressure

Demand for data centre capacity has risen sharply as cloud computing and AI workloads expand, but the pace of new construction has run into power shortages in several European markets. That has made access to electricity, and the speed at which it can be delivered, a more prominent factor in site selection and project design.

AVK recently energised what it described as Europe’s first large-scale data centre microgrid at a PureDC site in Dublin, where power constraints have become a major issue for new digital infrastructure. The company is using that track record to position itself as a provider of on-site alternatives for operators that cannot wait for conventional grid upgrades.

Nicholas Pepper, Managing Director, Infrastructure, Partners Group, said: “AI is driving one of the largest infrastructure buildouts in decades, and access to power is becoming a defining constraint. This constraint and lengthening connection queues are critical bottlenecks to growth in the European data centre market, which onsite generation can alleviate by accelerating speed-to-power. AVK, with its deep expertise, track record, and pan-European footprint, is well-positioned to address this issue as a one-stop shop for data centre power solutions. We see an exciting growth opportunity for AVK and we look forward to supporting the management team in its next chapter.”

The deal gives AVK fresh capital at a time when investors are looking for businesses positioned between electricity infrastructure and digital growth. For AVK, it also opens a new phase in which the company will move beyond supplying equipment and services to owning and operating assets tied directly to customer demand.

Pritchard and the leadership team will remain in place.