Coca-Cola bottling plant in Madrid to become data centre site

A former Coca-Cola bottling plant in Fuenlabrada, Madrid is set to become a state-of-the-art data centre.

Stoneweg SA, a Swiss real estate investment advisor, completed the sale of the site to Thor Equities on behalf of Icona Capital Group.

“Stoneweg has become a highly trusted partner of Icona, having executed the original acquisition of this asset as well as its successful sale,” said Jaume Sabater, CEO of Stoneweg.

The sale to Thor will result in a €600 million investment to turn the 211,000 sqm of industrial space into a data centre that will expand Thor Digitaland, the company’s venture to develop data centres across Europe.

Independent real estate investor and entrepreneur who controls Icona, Max-Hervé George, said: “We worked closely with Stoneweg to locate a site of this quality in Madrid as part of our investment expansion into southern Europe. We have been very pleased that its location and opportunity has been recognised by Thor.”

In May 2022, Thor announced that the sustainable data centre known as Madrid One will commit power of up to 20MW capacity in phase one, which will grow to over 100MW in later phases.

“Importantly, Spain has one of the most reliable energy networks in Europe whilst also benefiting from both strong fiber and network connectivity with both South America and Africa,” said Head of Thor Equities Europe, David Hunt-Cuadrado

The data centre is expected to be one of Madrid’s largest data centre campuses, benefitting from diverse power feeds as well as access to multiple IP transit and dark fiber providers.

“Thor’s decision to enter the data center asset class is consistent with our forward-looking approach and strategy to acquire and develop high quality assets globally, beginning with Madrid One,” said Chairman of Thor Equities Group, Joseph Sitt.

Former Executive Director Sales and Marketing at Ark Data Centres, Roy Gibbens, has been appointed to oversee Thor’s data centre expansion into new and emerging markets.

Construction of Madrid One is expected to commence imminently.