Singaporean real estate investment firm SC Capital Partners (SCCP) has launched a new data center firm and plans to develop hyperscale facilities across Asia.

SCCP-backed Zeus Data Centers quietly launched its website and social media pages last summer. According to a post from law firm Allen and Gledhill, SC Zeus Data Centers is a joint venture between SCCP DC Investments Pte. Ltd. and Abner Investments Pte. Ltd, with the former owning a 60.3 percent stake.

IPE Real Assets reports that Zeus has recently committed to its first investment in Seoul, South Korea, where it will develop a $500 million hyperscale data center.

Beyond South Korea, the company will target Japan and Singapore (which is now easing a moratorium on new developments), along with Jakarta, Indonesia, and Bangkok, Thailand.

Joe Gooi, chief executive officer of SC Zeus, told IPE Real Assets: “We have been working on opportunities since late 2020, and have identified a strong pipeline of potential deals.

“The site in Seoul will tap growing demand for data center space on the back of a huge Internet market in South Korea – we are already fielding expressions of interests from prospective tenants.”

Update: SC Zeus has officially announced it has acquired a site in Seoul and is building a 45,000 square meter (484,350 sq ft), 45MW data center in the city. The company noted its total development pipeline across Asia Pacific could reach 250MW.

Joe Gooi, CEO of Zeus, said: “We are investing in this project to service the growing demand for data center capacity on the back of a huge Internet market in South Korea, and we are already fielding expressions of interest from prospective tenants.”

CEO Gooi was previously Digital Realty’s head of portfolio. COO AC Lee has previously held roles at STT and Digital Realty, and SVP Wang Peng was formerly the CEO at Sinnet Cloud and worked at 21Vianet (now Vnet) before that.

On its site, Zeus claimed to have ‘proprietary innovative cooling systems’ capable of reducing energy consumption by up to 30 percent and said its facilities will have a PUE of 1.2 or below.

Established in 2004, SC Capital Partners is a privately-owned Asia Pacific real estate firm. It owns a variety of retail, office, hospitality, residential, and industrial properties across Asia Pacific. This is seemingly its first data center investment.

Suchad Chiaranussati, founder and chairman of SC Capital, told IPE that under the partnership arrangement, his firm would provide capital and funding to the platform.

“We have capital in our opportunistic funds and access to a network of investors who have shown keen interest in investing in data centers,” he said. The partnership will initially leverage SC Capital’s real estate funds, but Zeus may launch a separate data center fund in the future.

Asked if SC Capital was starting out too late on data centers, he said: “There will never be a better time than now. Our lives center around data. Governments, corporations, and individuals are increasingly moving towards utilizing and storing digital data. So it is not a question of being too late or too early. Any time that we find the right talent is the right time to enter the sector.”