Visa Leases Data Center from Digital Realty

Visa Europe has leased 10,000 square feet of custom data center space in the London market from Digital Realty Trust (DLR), the companies said today. The facility will be developed through Digital Realty's build-to-suit program, which offers customer guarantees on completion time and the project budget.

The deal was Digital Realty Trust's second recent lease with a European financial services organization, following a January deal with UK investment management firm Man Group.

Demand from Financial Services

"With two financial services organisations having signed agreements with Digital Realty Trust in recent months, we continue to see escalating demand for data centre space across the EU," said Frederick Potter, Head of International Operations of Digital Realty Trust. "By choosing our Build-to-Suit data centre programme, Visa Europe has been able to specify its exact requirements for the proposed facility, with the full support of our industry experts. Through our integrated service, our customers gain access to the most up-to-date datacentre technology in a prime location with none of the risk associated with a do-it-yourself project."

"Visa is committed to consistently providing its European customers with robust, reliable and secure payment services, and to achieve this we rely on state of the art data centre facilities which provide the foundation for our business," said Steve Chambers, CIO, Visa Europe. "By working with Digital Realty Trust, we have been able to achieve our needs within a defined timeframe and budget. This level of commitment is critical to minimise our risks and optimise our operations."

$400 Million Stock Offering

Digital Realty continues to maintain a capital warchest to fund its development and property acquisition activities. On Tuesday Digital Realty sold 6.79 million shares of common stock as part of a previously announced "at the market" program of stock sales, netting approximately $394 million after commissions and expenses. During the second quarter of 2011, Digital Realty sold 2.8 million shares of common stock to raise $171 million.