AustralianSuper places €1.5bn bet on data centres

Australia’s largest pension fund is investing €1.5bn in one of Europe’s largest data centre businesses. AustralianSuper is making a minority investment in Vantage Data Centers at what sources said was an $11bn valuation. This first foray into data centres is intended to kick-start a broader involvement. The pension fund, which manages nearly $300bn in assets, is investing in Vantage’s Europe, Middle East and Africa businesses after its US private equity owner DigitalBridge hired advisers this spring to raise funds for the construction of new data centres. Vantage EMEA is a collection of 12 data centre locations in European cities including London, Berlin, Zurich, Milan, Frankfurt and Warsaw. In London, Vantage is spending £750m to build two centres, one near Park Royal and the other in North Acton, that are expected to be completed in late 2024 and early 2025. The FT (£)