Keppel Data Centre Fund II secures AIIB as new investor

Keppel Data Centres has announced today that it has secured the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as its new investor for the Keppel Data Centre Fund II. The company has also achieved US$1.1bn in closing commitments. 

AIIB’s investment of US$100mn into KDC Fund II through a parallel fund structure and US$50mn through co-investments mark the final close of KDC Fund II, which will focus on making strategic investments in the fast-growing data centre sector in Asia Pacific and Europe. Launched in December 2020, KDC Fund II has attracted a diverse group of investors from Asia and Europe. Besides AIIB, the Fund also attracted investments from sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, insurance funds, and pension funds.

What is the aim of Keppel DC’s Fund II? 

The KDC Fund II, which is managed by Alpha Investment Partners Limited (Alpha), a private fund manager under Keppel Capital, will tap Keppel Data Centres Holdings’ (Keppel Data Centres) expertise in developing, operating and maintaining quality data centres to capture investment opportunities in greenfield and brownfield data centre assets, Keppel DC said in a statement. 

Mr Alvin Mah, CEO of Alpha, said, “Data centres form the foundation of the digital economy which underpins almost every aspect of modern life today. We are pleased to welcome Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as an investor and look forward to strengthening our partnership through the Keppel Data Centre Fund II, which is seizing opportunities arising from the burgeoning demand for quality data centres. 

Working together with Keppel Data Centres, we are able to tap on the Keppel Group’s know-how in data centre operations excellence, sustainable technology and energy-efficiency to develop better and greener data centres, which is an increasing imperative for data centre operators. This will allow us to set our portfolio above the others to offer a wider range of services to our clients and more compelling returns to our investors.”

“The digitalisation megatrend is re-shaping global markets and business operations,” said AIIB Director-General of the Banking Department, Dongik Lee. “This trend has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, further highlighting the importance of data centers which are essential components of the digital ecosystem and attractive investment targets, as identified by AIIB’s Digital Infrastructure Sector Strategy. Our partnership with KDC Fund II and Alpha will foster the development and enhancement of hard digital infrastructure to bridge the digital divide by mainly investing in colocation data centers that mostly serve Emerging Asia.”

The abovementioned developments are not expected to have any material impact on the earnings per share and net tangible asset per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the current financial year.