Singapore’s Keppel raises $130m for data centre fund

Keppel Corporation has reached a $130 million first close on its debut data centre fund, for which it has a $500 million target.

Alpha Data Centre Fund, as the new vehicle is dubbed, is managed by Alpha Investment Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Capital. 

“The growth in demand for data centres is strong in Asia Pacific and Europe, driven by increasing data storage needs, compliance and regulatory requirements, cloud adoption and data centre outsourcing,” Keppel said in a statement.  

As the fund seeks to originate investment opportunities, it will collaborate with Keppel Data Centres Holding, a 70-30 joint venture between Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation and Keppel Land, two other Keppel subsidiaries. 

The vehicle aims to build a portfolio of both greenfield and brownfield assets across key data centre hubs in Asia Pacific and Europe. Keppel Data Centres Holding plans to provide the fund with a seed asset.  

“As development projects are capital intensive, the DC Fund will enable Keppel T&T to seize more opportunities to grow our pipeline of quality data centres without depending solely on our own balance sheet,” said Thomas Pang, chief executive of Keppel T&T. 

The vehicle is expected to fund up to $1 billion worth of data centre projects. 

Keppel Data Centres Holding currently manages and operates more than 190,000 sq ft. of data and business continuity centre space in Singapore. 

This first closing comes shortly after Keppel restructured its asset management businesses under the umbrella of Keppel Capital.