CapitaLand-owned Ascendas India Trust is to build its first data center campus in India.
Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte. Ltd., the Trustee-Manger of Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) is to invest an estimated R 12 billion ($162.4 million) to develop and operate phase one of a campus in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.
The company said its acquisition of the site from third-party vendors is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2021. The campus will comprise two buildings; the first building will comprise 325,000 sq ft and is scheduled to be ready by Q2 2024.
The 6.6-acre greenfield site will be developed in phases up to 575,000 sq ft (53,400 sqm) and 90MW when fully built up. The company said that once fully developed, the campus will be able to host 8,500 racks and have a Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.4.
“Our entry into the data center sector in India will diversify a-iTrust’s portfolio into an attractive and highly scalable asset class,” said Sanjeev Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer of the Trustee-Manager of Ascendas India Trust. “Developing our first data center campus with support from our sponsor, CapitaLand, will allow us to leverage the CapitaLand Group’s data center expertise and gives us complete control over the design and quality of the data center.”
Ascendas India Trust is a property trust which owns IT and logistics park in India across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Mumbai. It is owned by CapitaLand, the Singaporean real estate group.
In April, CapitaLand has acquired its first data centers in China, acquiring a campus in Shanghai for $564.5 million.
“India’s rising data consumption and demand for quality solutions present a good opportunity for CapitaLand’s entry into the country’s burgeoning data center market,” added He Jihong, CEO of Data Centre, and Chief Corporate Strategy Officer, CapitaLand Group. “We are stepping up our growth in data centers and accelerating expansion of the Group’s portfolio into new economy asset classes.”
Jihong said the group has invested around S$1.7 billion (US$1.26 billion) in data centers this year, and that it is looking to expand its data center portfolio in the group’s core markets.”
