AustralianSuper, Australia's largest pension fund, announced on Monday that it is investing EUR 1.5 billion to acquire a significant minority stake in Vantage Data Centers Europe, Middle East, and Africa (Vantage EMEA), a hyperscale data center platform in the EMEA region. According to the statement, this move marks AustralianSuper's first significant exposure to the hyperscale data center industry.
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Partnership
AustralianSuper will become a key shareholder in Vantage EMEA, a DigitalBridge-sponsored company. This partnership aims to support Vantage's expansion and development of hyperscale data centers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Together, AustralianSuper and DigitalBridge-sponsored vehicles are expected to support Vantage.
Hyperscale data centres are large-scale facilities designed to meet the increasing demand for data storage and processing, especially driven by cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).
Purpose and Growth
"The Vantage EMEA platform will complement our existing digital infrastructure investments and this acquisition represents an important step for the Fund as we build out our infrastructure capability in Europe," said AustralianSuper.
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DigitalBridge, the asset manager behind Vantage EMEA, believes that digital infrastructure investments, including data centers, are a resilient asset class with significant growth potential. DigitalBridge sees this investment as an opportunity to expand their presence and offer high-quality digital infrastructure investments to Australian investors.
Vantage EMEA Expansion
Vantage EMEA has announced its expansion to six countries across the EMEA region since entering the market in February 2020. Vantage has established a presence in key financial and commercial hubs, such as Frankfurt and Berlin (Germany), Milan (Italy), Warsaw (Poland), Johannesburg (South Africa), Zurich (Switzerland), and Cardiff (United Kingdom).
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Furthermore, Vantage EMEA recently revealed its entry into the London market with 75 MW of IT capacity across two campuses, as reported by TelecomTalk.
In terms of sustainability, Vantage EMEA has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. The investment is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.
