Mainova & BlackRock Begin Data Centre Partnership
Mainova has sold 50.1% of its shares to a fund managed by BlackRock's Diversified Infrastructure Team. Mainova WebHouse develops, constructs and operates data centres. In this partnership, Mainova WebHouse will have access to new growth potential for the planning of sustainable data centres across Germany, specifically in Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region, known for their leadership in digitalisation.
Powering Frankfurt's sustainable and digital future
Mainova is a utility company based in Frankfurt, Germany, which was founded in 1998. The company offers a range of energy services to residential and commercial customers. Services include electricity, natural gas and water supply. Mainova supports sustainable initiatives, having invested in renewable energy and modern technologies to enhance service delivery.
BlackRock is a global asset manager and technology leader which helps people to invest and build their savings. The renewable energy industry will require US$4.8tn by 2040 and BlackRock is expanding its climate infrastructure team to lead the green finance movement. As the world embraces electrification, clean energy and low-carbon technologies, BlackRock is increasing investments and strategy in its Climate Infrastructure team.
Earlier this year, BlackRock acquired Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) to accelerate increased digital infrastructure developments. An acquisition of this scale positions BlackRock as one of the largest infrastructure investment firms in the world. The company boasts more than US$50bn of infrastructure client assets, in areas including diversified infrastructure, infra debt, infra solutions, climate infrastructure and decarbonisation partners.
In Frankfurt, data centres are the basis for the further digitalisation of the economy as well as society. The city sees intelligent and sustainable solutions steps on a pathway to prosperity for the region, which is being supported by widening cloud usage and the data centre market - and where Mainova and BlackRock see strong potential.
In addition, BlackRock has other data centre projects planned, with a total IT load of over 200 megawatts. The company is focused on building sustainable data centres which operate on renewable energy sources, where customers' electricity consumption is completely covered by renewable energy certificates. The heat created by the data centre will be used as heating energy.
The Frankfurt Ostend data centre is expected to open for operations in late 2024.
Sustainable infrastructure for data storage and processing
Dr. Michael Maxelon, CEO of Mainova AG, said that he was delighted to have been able to gain a partner in BlackRock who will allow the company to further develop the data centre location in the Rhine-Main metropolitan region.
“With our strong partnership, we are driving digitalization further and strengthening value creation in the region,” Michael said. “With their specific focus on sustainability, Mainova WebHouse's data centres support the city of Frankfurt and our customers in implementing their climate protection goals."
Mark Florian, Global Head of Diversified Infrastructure at BlackRock, said that he was thrilled to invest in Mainova WebHouse and partner with the Mainova Group.
“Led by an experienced management team, Mainova WebHouse is an example of our thematic and collaborative approach to infrastructure investments,” he said. “Together, we are committed to ensuring that customers focused on the energy transition can benefit from sustainably designed data centres based on a sustainable energy supply. In this way, we are helping to make the Frankfurt region one of the world's leading data hubs."
"Digitalisation is a key success factor for the German economy,” added Dirk Schmitz, Country Head of BlackRock in Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe. “A sustainable infrastructure for data storage and processing as part of the energy transition requires considerable investment in this country.”
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