Australian pension fund enters data centre industry with £1.2bn investment in Vantage EMEA

Australia’s largest pension fund is set to buy a minority stake in Vantage EMEA. AustralianSuper will invest £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) for its first foray into the data centre industry.

This is the pension fund’s largest infrastructure deal in Europe to date.

“[This] would provide access to an attractive market that had delivered strong growth and returns in recent years,” said Nik Kemp, Head of Infrastructure for AustralianSuper.

AustralianSuper joins digital infrastructure investment manager DigitalBridge Group as a key shareholder. DigitalBridge Group remained as majority owner of Vantage EMEA.

The valuation and other financial details were not specified by AustralianSuper, but the deal is expected to be completed in Q4 2023.

The pension fund will promote Vantage’s development and growth of hyperscale data centres in the EMEA region.

“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,” added Kemp.

Vantage EMEA has expanded into six nations since entering the market in 2020. Most recently, the data centre operator announced the development of a £250 million ($312 million) data centre campus in London.

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