Singapore’s Keppel said on Tuesday it had agreed to buy an artificial intelligence-ready data centre facility being developed by Japan’s biggest property group Mitsui Fudosan in Tokyo.

The deal comes less than two weeks after the asset manager said it plans to more than double its data centre funds under management from S$9 billion (US$6.84 billion) currently to S$19 billion in the near term to tap into the AI frenzy.

Mitsui Fudosan will develop the core and shell of the data centre, while Keppel’s private fund will undertake the fit-out works, the Singaporean company said.

Keppel said it would be the facility manager when the data centre is ready in 2027, adding to its recurring income.

“We look forward to working even closer with Mitsui Fudosan … to further develop a quality pipeline of assets for our upcoming Keppel Data Centre Fund III,” said Christina Tan, Keppel’s chief investment officer and CEO of fund management.

The company said in an emailed response to Reuters it could not disclose financial details about the deal due to confidentiality reasons.

Source: New Straits Times, November 6, 2024