• JV acquires data centre in Amsterdam
• More than 5k sqm of data centre space
• Maintain BUY with S$4.09 FV

Data Centre JV expands capabilities in Netherlands

Last Friday, Keppel Data Centres Holdings Pte Ltd (KDCH), a 70-30 joint venture between Keppel Telecommunications and Transportation Ltd (Keppel T&T) and Keppel Land Limited (KPLD) announced that it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire, for an amount yet to be disclosed, a data centre (Almere Data Centre 2) in Almere, the Netherlands, from the Reggeborgh Group and VolkerWessel Group. We understand that KDCH also signed, on the same day, a binding letter of intent with a major tenant who committed to lease approximately 40% of the space at Almere Data Centre 2.

Almere Data Centre 2 located 40 mins from Amsterdam

Almere Data Centre 2 is a purpose-built shell and core data centre facility located on freehold land adjacent to Almere Data Centre 1, a fully occupied data centre acquired in 2013 by Securus Fund, and will comprise more than 5k sqm of data centre space. Both facilities are located 40 minutes away from Amsterdam. Almere Data Centre 2 will be fitted out to Tier III standards with a minimum N+1 redundancy for power and cooling, and power density of up to 1.5kW psm with scalability to 2kW psm.

Amsterdam to be a strategic data centre hub

KDCH sees Amsterdam to be a strategic hub for first tier data centres in Europe given its top notch digital infrastructure and ample opportunities to tap onto renewable wind and solar energy. According to HIS Technology, global business spending on cloud computing infrastructure and services is expected to grow 20% to US$174b in 2014, and we have seen robust demand in the European data centre market to date with colocation takeup rising 12.3% YoY. We understand that the acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on earnings this financial year; pending more details regarding this acquisition, we maintain our BUY rating on KPLD with an unchanged fair value estimate of S$4.09.

Source: OCBC Research - 25 Nov 2014