European real estate investor ActivumSG has completed the sale of a prime development site in Madrid, Spain, to Edgnex, the data centre arm of Damac Group.
The site will be used to build a state-of-the-art data centre with an estimated investment of over €400 mln.
Located in a rapidly growing data centre market outside the major European hubs, the Madrid property offers significant potential. It is one of the few remaining plots of land in Madrid that can be connected to a power source of the level required to fuel sizeable data centre operations feasibly.
ActivumSG secured the site in 2022 and successfully negotiated power rights for 40MW, with 10MW available immediately and an additional 30MW by Q1 2026.
The latest disposal is part of ActivumSG’s ‘powered land’ strategy, which involves acquiring undeveloped land suitable for data centres, securing necessary power connections, and then selling the developed site to a specialized data centre operator.
In July 2024, ActivumSG successfully executed a similar transaction, selling a 17,651 m2 site in Madrid to data centre developer and operator Pure DC for €11 mln.
Brian Betel, head of Direct Transactions, ActivumSG, said: ‘Our powered land strategy provides our investors with a de-risked entry point into the mega-trend of digitalisation, which is reshaping demand for real estate globally while helping facilitate major investment needed to deliver the infrastructure required to fuel the AI revolution.’
Hussain Sajwani, founder of DAMAC, commented: ‘The acquisition of this asset – our first planned data centre site in Europe – will help to plug the data centre supply-demand mismatch in Madrid and support the development of groundbreaking technologies. Our continued significant investment in digital infrastructure and AI reflects our deep conviction in the opportunity offered by technological innovation.’
ActivumSG is actively seeking additional opportunities to acquire strategically located sites across Europe, capitalizing on the growing demand for data centre infrastructure.
The company recently closed the sale of three shopping centres in Caceres, Madrid and Barcelona for a combined sum of €140 mln, and also divested Palacio Solecio, a luxury boutique hotel in Málaga for €51 mln.
