The PFB Data Centre Fund has been set up to focus on the specialist property sector, and has entered into a joint venture with a German-based developer e-shelter to build a data centre facility on a 50 acre site at Saunderton, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

The development should rank as the second-largest data centre facility in Europe.

The fund has been established as a Guernsey registered closed ended investment company and is listed on the CISX. It is managed by Pinder Fry & Benjamin in the UK, and International Administration Guernsey (IAG) has been appointed as the administrator. The legal advisers are Macfarlanes in the UK, and Carey Olsen in Guernsey.

The development has already gained notable publicity through a recent article in the Financial Times.

“This is a prime example of how Guernsey can provide a one-stop shop for funds,” observed Peter Niven, Chief Executive of GuernseyFinance – the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry.

“The Island has a registered fund regime that provides a fast-track process for regulatory consent, legal and administration capability with experience and expertise of the broadest range of asset classes and also a local stock exchange offering primary and secondary listings in a pragmatic environment."

"It is this offering which enables Guernsey to continue to punch above its weight as a leading funds jurisdiction," he added.

Alison Simpson, Chief Executive of IAG, who is on the fund’s board, stated that: “We are extremely delighted to have been appointed as administrators to this fund which has gained significant media coverage for investing in what is a specialist but potentially very rewarding market."

The PFB Data Centre Fund aims for the development at Saunderton to tackle the bottleneck in modern data centre supply.

A shortage of data warehousing has followed the failure of many former data centre operators, which were wiped out following the dotcom bust eight years ago.

An expansion in the supply of data centres has also been limited because the cost of developing the properties is high, and their stringent locational and energy supply demands.

At the same time there has been an explosion of online consumer spending, data-rich online applications, such as video and peer-to-peer file sharing and tougher regulation on financial services groups’ retention of data. All of these factors have boosted demand.