CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI) has recently launched the CapitaLand China Data Centre Partners (CDCP), a China data centre development fund. CDCP has committed to investing in two hyperscale data centre development projects in Greater Beijing.
Upon completion, the projects will add approximately S$1 billion to CLI’s funds under management. The establishment of CDCP is in line with CLI’s strategy to grow its portfolio of new economy assets under management and enhance long-term business resilience.
The data centre development projects are expected to be completed in 2025 and will deliver over 100 megawatts of power to meet growing demand from Beijing, the world’s most populous national capital city.
The two data centres are located close to established data centre clusters and key network nodes of leading Chinese cloud service providers and internet companies. They are poised to capture strong demand from Beijing.
CDCP has a total equity committed of S$530 million, with existing and new global institutional investor clients holding an 80% effective stake in CDCP, and CLI holding the remaining 20%.
CLI’s competitive advantage lies in its position as a vertically integrated group in China with a full range of capabilities from investment sourcing, development, customer network to operations. It has S$46 billion of assets under management in China.
“CDCP will invest in two highly sought-after data centre projects in prime locations. China’s data centre market is currently the second-largest in the world and the largest in Asia Pacific, and is projected to grow 24% annually until 2025. There is strong interest in CLI’s future data centre projects in China and Asia Pacific at large, and we are actively seeking to grow in this sector,” said Michelle Lee, Managing Director, Private Funds (Data Centre) of CLI.
The accelerated growth of digital usage in China is driving demand for data centres. In 2021, China’s data centre market grew 34.6% year-on-year to S$60 billion, following an impressive 43.3% year-on-year growth in 2020, partly due to increased online demand amid COVID-19.
CapitaLand has a portfolio of 26 data centres in Asia and Europe with total assets under management of S$6 billion on a completed basis. Its vertically integrated data centre capabilities in Singapore, China, India, South Korea, and Europe enable it to add value at every stage of the asset’s life cycle.
The two data centres will be designed, built, and certified against Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards. They will incorporate energy-saving solutions and rooftop solar energy harvesting systems to generate on-site renewable power to reduce carbon footprint.
