GDC holders could be looking at a substantial capital return after two deals within a week

Global Data Centre Group’s David Yuile.

The AirTrunk mega-deal has shunted shares in Global Data Centre Group into a trading halt, as speculation about how much the listed entity’s stake in the data centre operator is worth.

And Angus Aitken from Aitken Mount Capital Partners reckons it’s a fair chunk, which will generate a handsome capital return for GDC holders.

Serial telco entrepreneur David Yuile heads up GDC, which recently upgraded the valuation of its investment in AirTrunk by $24.1m to $73.4m.

GDC originally put $37m into the data centre operator as part of the Macquarie Asset Management-led consortium which acquired an 88 per cent stake in 2020. Just this week GDC also announced it had divested its stake in European edge data centre company Etix Everywhere, which Yuile is also a director of, for $175.6m.

Aitken suggests that GDC’s AirTrunk stake comes in at about $185m, with the combined $360m from both sales well above GDC’s current $271m market capitalisation.

“We see a net asset value of north of $4.30 or more versus the $3.50 trading price today and that means most likely a large capital return to GDC shareholders,’’ Aitken said in a note to clients on Thursday.

GDC was trading at just $1.20 in March last year. Aitken said AirTrunk was the best “best single private growth story of the last 20 years’’.

Shares in fellow data centre operator NextDC were riding the AirTrunk wave on Thursday, adding 8.4 per cent to be the best performer in the ASX 200 after a weak showing since its full year results came out on August 27.

Aitken is not buying the comparison though.

“I am not sold NextDC is anything resembling Air Trunk in the slightest, but every insto seems to own it as their data centre play.Good luck to you -owning Next DC it isn’t for us.’’