Investec view: We like the fundamentals of the sector; as more of our lives move online, societal dependency on digital infrastructure increases and this will fuel further demand for the asset class. Specific demand drivers include increasing numbers of internet users globally, increasing data consumption per user, improving speeds in data transfer, more connected devices (Internet of things) and as a result, greater need for data storage. The supply of digital infrastructure assets is constrained by a combination of high capital costs, long lead times for development, technical expertise requirements and entrenched customer relationships. We think that the D9 portfolio has two interesting platform investments. The Aqua Comms business (c.24% of eNAV) looks well poised to grow its customer base on its existing Trans-Atlantic subsea fibre network, particularly as c.40% of Trans-Atlantic subsea capacity is due to come offline in the mid-2020s as older cables are retired, whilst the EMIC-1 transaction represents an opportunity to enhance the company’s credentials and network in the Middle East and India. Aqua Comms was a seed investment identified at IPO and had previously been owned by the D9 management team. This geographic expansion may open up further opportunities in this area for the D9 group. Verne Global (c.33% of eNAV), an Icelandic data centre platform, has made a successful transition from a customer base with a focus on bitcoin-mining to a more diverse list of consumers, including financial services, engineering, scientific research and AI. The company has the potential to expand its existing site in Iceland, and possibly further, across the broader Nordics. Verne Global has strong sustainability credentials and benefits from 100% renewable-generated power. However, we have reservations over whether the level of dividend (6p/share) is appropriate, given the opportunity set. More specifically, we struggle to visualise how the company will be able to cover the dividend at this level over the medium-term and meet its ambitious return targets given the growth and return dynamics at the underlying asset level. As a consequence, we believe the company may need to increase its exposure to more mature, cash-yielding but lower returning platform assets in order to meet its ambitious dividend target, or alternatively pay an uncovered yield. Moreover, contrary to the company’s superficial presentation of its underlying contracts, there is very little indexation of revenues and the fixed uplift recurring revenues do not offer inflation protection on any justifiable basis. Continued overleaf