HMC Capital is establishing a global digital infrastructure platform – DigiCo – which includes a global DigiCo Infrastructure REIT intended to be listed on the ASX, in addition to a new institutional unlisted fund.
In an ASX announcement on Thursday, HMC said the new strategy comprises a model portfolio of stabilised assets, lease-up/value-add assets and value accretive developments.
Notably, as a seed asset for the platform, the firm is looking to acquire Global Switch Australia, a 26-megawatt co-location data centre located in the Sydney CBD, for $1.94 billion.
According to HMC, and subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, the transaction is expected to close early next year.
Global Switch Australia currently comprises two adjoining data centre sites in Sydney, representing the only large-scale data centre campus in the densely-connected Sydney CBD and one of the largest data centre campuses in Australia, HMC confirmed.
“We are excited to today announce a major acquisition to seed our global digital infrastructure platform. Global Switch Australia is a strategically located Tier 1 asset with significant repositioning and expansion upside,” chief executive David Di Pilla said.
“This is consistent with our strategy to build a world-class global platform providing investors with exposure to institutional grade digital infrastructure assets underpinned by attractive megatrends.”
“Digital infrastructure represents a major funds management growth opportunity for HMC and we believe the establishment of both a listed and unlisted vehicle will enable HMC to take advantage of high-quality acquisition opportunities across the value chain to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns.”
Notably, the asset manager is also eyeing multiple other seed assets, mostly based in the US.
Namely, HMC said it is under “exclusive due diligence” on a further triple net lease North American seed DigiCo assets, comprising hyperscale and enterprise facilities, alongside development assets.
In addition to the seed portfolio, the firm has identified further longer dated growth opportunities across brownfield value-add and greenfield development projects.
Earlier this month, AustralianSuper also announced its interest in exploring offshore data centre platforms.
Namely, the super fund confirmed a $2.2 billion investment in US company DataBank, bringing its global real assets portfolio to nearly $60 billion.
It marks the mega fund’s first investment in the US data centre market and the second alongside existing DataBank investor, DigitalBridge.
