Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) is investing C$400m (€271.2m) in a newly created Japanese data centre development venture with Mitsui & Co.

CPP Investments said it commit the capital to the Japanese Data Centre Development Fund, which will be an investment platform for hyper-scale data centre developments in Japan.

The fund’s initial projects will be hyper-scale data centre developments in greater Tokyo and Osaka areas in Japan. The data centres will be managed by Mitsui’s real estate fund management subsidiary.

Jimmy Phua, managing director and head of real estate Asia Pacific at CPP Investments, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the demand for data centres globally. In Japan, the scarcity of developable sites near major urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka and intense capital needs have presented further challenges in developing hyper-scale data centres.”

Phua said this investment will help address both the significant demand and constrained supply, providing tenants with high-quality space and service.

“We are pleased to partner with Mitsui, which brings deep market knowledge, to tap the growing market demand, providing us an opportunity to further deliver solid long-term risk-adjusted returns for CPP contributors and beneficiaries,” Phua added.

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