Australian fund Aware Super announced Tuesday a $300 million investment into the Skyline JV data center business, which indirectly owns Vantage Data Centers APAC (Vantage APAC), a global provider of hyperscale data centers with more than ten high-quality assets across Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Aware Super said in a statement that the investment is the latest arising out of the Aware Super and DigitalBridge Group relationship which includes the successful 2023 co-investment in Switch Data Centers in the United States.
The transaction also brings the AUD 210 billion ($141 billion) fund’s total investments in digital infrastructure to beyond AUD 6 billion ($4.04 billion) – representing more than a quarter of Aware Super’s total infrastructure portfolio – and reflects its high conviction in fiber networks, data centers, and connectivity platforms.
“Digital infrastructure is a critical plank of Aware Super’s infrastructure investment strategy,”
“For a number of years, we have captured the mega-trends of digital infrastructure across geographies, recognizing early the transformative potential of fiber networks, data centers, and connectivity platforms,” said Aware Super’s Head of Infrastructure Mark Hector.
According to him, this is a compelling opportunity for Aware Super to gain exposure to the digitalization-driven high-growth APAC data center market, with the region covering 60 percent of the world’s population and projected to be the strongest growing cloud region.
“Even though the APAC region is forecast to require up to 20GW of data center capacity by 2030 – driven by hyperscaler cloud deployments and Generative AI training workloads – the region remains underrepresented on data center deployments per capita, further highlighting the attractiveness of this opportunity,” Hector said.
He added the deal would enhance the Fund’s hybrid investment model by partnering with DigitalBridge, a successful sector specialist partner. He also acknowledged Vantage’s experienced management team.
Meanwhile, DigitalBridge Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Smithen said that Vantage APAC is a high-quality platform operating in markets with strong structural demand, and this investment aligns with our strategy of supporting leading operators as cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads accelerate across the region.
Vantage Data Centers President, APAC, Jeremy Deutsch also said Vantage’s APAC business is growing at an unprecedented pace.
“With partners like DigitalBridge and Aware Super, we are well positioned to expand our APAC portfolio to meet AI and cloud demand in markets that matter most to our customers,” he added.
Aware Super’s digital infrastructure investments include Vocus (a specialist fiber and network solutions provider in Australia); 2Degrees (New Zealand’s third-largest telco); Switch (US-based hyperscale data center operator) and euNetworks (European bandwidth infrastructure provider).
According to the statement, these assets have consistently delivered above benchmark returns as Aware Super capitalizes on global trends in digitization, data consumption, and connectivity on behalf of its 1.2 million members.
Vantage APAC business is a part of the broader Vantage Data Center’s global network, which spans across North America, APAC, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
This investment into the Skyline JV business will support Vantage’s significant pipeline of opportunities in APAC, expected to be the strongest growing cloud region globally, said the statement.
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