The Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund (MSREF) is to be the major investor in a $350m push into the carrier hotel market.
MSREF is injecting the capital into two companies – MetroNexus and Global Gateway – which will acquire, develop, lease and manage carrier hotels in Europe, North America and Latin America.
A carrier hotel is a building which houses companies which require high-level infrastructure such as energy management, power supply, fibre optic connectivity and facilities management.
MSREF is the majority shareholder in both companies whose initial capitalisation is expected to be in excess of $1.25bn. Management of the two companies will also put equity into the expansion.
The two companies – chosen for their geographic markets – will build up a standardised network of carrier hotels. They have plans to roll out facilities in 60 to 75 cities worldwide and have recently acquired properties in Seattle, New York and Montreal. It has 15 additional properties under agreement in 14 cities worldwide.
The services provided will include shell and core space to conditioned space, and facilities managed space and services. Tenants are expected to include local and long haul carriers, web-hosting companies, internet service providers and application service providers.
MetroNexus, which has New York and Paris offices, will focus on Europe and North America and will be managed by The Gnome Group, a telecom design/build firm. Global Gateway will focus on the Pacific Rim and will be managed by Pioneer Global Group and One Wilshire, both of which have expertise in the sector.
MSREF has raised $4bn in equity capital since 1991 and has acquired over $20bn of assets and companies.
