AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets has announced that it has completed, on behalf of its clients, the acquisition of a data centre which is located in the south east of England for £28.1m (approximately €39m). The asset is fully let to a major global blue chip tenant.
The acquisition is in line with AXA IM - Real Assets’ strategy to diversify its investor offering into alternative asset classes. AXA IM - Real Assets’ dedicated data centre specialist, who is one of a number of sector focused specialists within its wider alternatives team, now manages a primarily European portfolio of data centres on behalf of clients which is valued at in excess of €200m following this acquisition, and is currently reviewing a pipeline of further investment opportunities.
AXA IM - Real Assets manages over €2.7bn of alternative assets (as of end of September 2015), having invested approximately €500m since the beginning of 2015, all of which require specific relevant operational expertise, including the healthcare facilities, hotels, data centres and forestry sectors.
Dorrien Thomas, regional head of asset management & transactions, northern Europe, at AXA IM - Real Assets, commented: “We have utilised the expertise of our specialist team, as well as our local knowledge of the UK market, to source this attractive investment opportunity which we believe will produce value for our clients.”
Hideki Kurata, head of alternatives & special situations at AXA IM - Real Assets, commented: "This is a high specification data centre which is let to a blue chip tenant on a long lease. It is indicative of the type of investment we want to make as we continue to build our data centre portfolio.”
