AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest pension fund, today announced that it is investing €1.5 billion to acquire a significant minority stake in Vantage Data Centers Europe, Middle East and Africa (Vantage EMEA), a DigitalBridge-sponsored company. DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG) (“DigitalBridge”), is a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure.
AustralianSuper will be a key shareholder in Vantage EMEA, one of the fastest growing hyperscale data center platforms in the region. Together, AustralianSuper and DigitalBridge-sponsored vehicles will support Vantage’s expansion and development of hyperscale data centers across EMEA, utilizing the company’s campus model to drive accelerated time to market while building on its longstanding customer relationships, track record of growth and next-generation infrastructure capabilities.
The investment, which represents AustralianSuper’s first significant exposure in hyperscale data centers, provides AustralianSuper with access to an attractive market with strong growth prospects.
Nik Kemp, Head of Infrastructure at AustralianSuper, said, “The Vantage EMEA platform is at an exciting point in its history, with a strong pipeline of developments in growing markets across the region. We look forward to working with DigitalBridge and Vantage EMEA to continue to support the rapid growth of its customers while also delivering on our purpose to help more than 3.2 million members achieve their best financial position in retirement. 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.”
Jon Mauck, Senior Managing Director at DigitalBridge who leads DigitalBridge’s data center investment strategy, said, “We are delighted to welcome AustralianSuper as an investor to EMEA’s premier data center platform. Vantage, led by an experienced management team, has a track record of success and is aligned with the long-term growth of cloud demand and the need for AI infrastructure. Digital infrastructure continues to demonstrate its resilience as an asset class, and we look forward to building on our track record as we become a partner of choice to Australian investors seeking to increase their exposure to high-quality digital infrastructure investments.”
Sureel Choksi, President and CEO of Vantage Data Centers, said, “As data center demand continues to rapidly accelerate across EMEA, this investment will fuel Vantage’s ability to accelerate the growth of our environmentally friendly, large-scale data center footprint across the region and further deepen our relationships with customers as we enable them to grow and scale their businesses with reliable, efficient and sustainable data centers. We look forward to partnering with AustralianSuper and supporting our customers’ continued growth.”
Since entering the EMEA market in February 2020, Vantage EMEA has expanded to six countries and established its presence in some of the region’s most important financial and commercial hubs, including Frankfurt and Berlin, Germany; Milan, Italy; Warsaw, Poland; Johannesburg, South Africa; Zurich, Switzerland; and Cardiff, United Kingdom. Most recently, Vantage EMEA announced its entry into the London market with 75MW of IT capacity across two campuses. Vantage EMEA has a strong focus on environmental sustainability and is committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.
