A Keppel-led data centre joint venture has sold two assets in Singapore to Keppel DC REIT for S$1.38bn (€973m) - in one of the largest data centre transactions in Southeast Asia.
The 60-40 joint venture between Keppel’s connectivity division and Cuscaden Peak Investments, owns the KDC SGP 7 and KDC SGP 8 data centres located at the Keppel Data Centre Campus in suburban Singapore.
The deal involves Keppel DC REIT acquiring an initial 99.49% stake in the data centres for S$1.03bn, with an option to fully own them in 2025.
As part of the proposed transaction, Keppel DC REIT shall pay an additional S$350m to the Keppel JV’s shareholders, Alpha Data Centre Fund, and co-investors, should a 10-year land tenure lease extension to 2050 be approved for the campus by the relevant authorities.
Manjot Singh Mann, CEO, of connectivity at Keppel, said: “The injection of KDC SGP 7 and KDC SGP 8 into Keppel DC REIT underscores our strengths as a global asset manager and operator to structure deals with compelling outcomes and strong value creation for the Company, our private funds and REIT.“
Loh Hwee Long, CEO of Keppel DC REIT, the manager of Keppel DC REIT, said: “In Keppel DC REIT’s 10th anniversary year, we are excited to embark on this landmark deal to acquire two next-generation AI-ready data centres situated within a campus.”
The campus’s remaining vacant land plot, which is not part of the proposed transaction, will be sub-leased to Keppel’s private funds - Keppel DC Fund II and the upcoming Keppel DC Fund III.
Together with Keppel, these two data centre private funds will have the opportunity to develop Keppel DC Singapore 9, the third data centre on the campus.
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