Keppel DC Reit acquires data centre in Germany

KEPPEL DC Reit is expanding its footprint to Germany with the acquisition of mainCubes Data Centre (DC), a data centre that will be fitted out to Tier III specifications, for 84 million euros (S$130 million) from mainCubes One Immobilien GmbH & Co.

Ten per cent of the sum will be paid upon contract signing, while the remainder will be paid upon completion of the data centre. mainCubes DC is situated on freehold land and located within the Offenbach am Main data centre hub, about 10 km away from Frankfurt. The four-storey data centre will have a total lettable area of approximately 11,780 sq m and is expected to be completed in 2018.

The acquisition is backed by a 15-year triple-net lease agreement with tenant mainCubes One GmbH, a related party of the vendor. The lease provides for annual rental escalations and three renewal options of five years each.

During the construction period, Keppel DC Reit will receive regular coupon payments from the vendor, making the acquisition immediately accretive to the Reit's distribution per unit.

The acquisition increases the Reit's portfolio's weighted average lease expiry (WALE) from 8.9 to 10 years.

Chua Hsien Yang, CEO of Keppel DC Reit Management, said: "Germany holds a key position in the data centre market in Europe as its excellent data centre infrastructure and ease of doing business make it a compelling data centre hub. Furthermore, mainCubes DC is an attractive asset as it is strategically located in close proximity to data centre-neutral fibre provider DE-CIX, which is the largest internet exchange point in the world, enabling its end users to benefit from minimal latency."