NTT said the additional backing would provide it "the opportunity to further accelerate its data centre development to take advantage of unprecedented growth in the market".
Brett Robson, global head of real estate for Macquarie Asset Management, said: “We see this as a very attractive sector to invest in, given the exponential growth of global data and computing and the significant capital requirements for operators to keep up with user demand. We are delighted to partner with NTT, a leading data centre operator, that has a global footprint and an exceptionally strong development and operational history.”
NTT's European expansion saw a new facility in Zurich completed earlier this year with Frankfurt, Vienna and Berlin all still in the works. In February NTT confirmed that capacity at the Dagenham facility would more than double to exceed 120MW.
NTT is one of the world’s largest data centre operators, with over 1,300MW of data centre capacity at present and a development pipeline that will add 25% to its total capacity across more than 20 countries and regions.
Masaaki Moribayashi, president and board director for NTT Ltd., said: “The world is moving further and further towards digital operations, driving demand for data centres. NTT has ambitious plans to build and operate more data centres which our strategic partnership with Macquarie, a globally recognised, long-term and experienced financial investment partner, will allow us to achieve.
"NTT aims to provide high-quality services to global companies by maximizing investment efficiency and accelerating data centre business investments. Macquarie understands our vision to enable the growth and innovation of our clients. Macquarie’s real estate investment capabilities are highly attractive as we consider the ongoing development of our platform in Europe and North America.”
Last year Macquarie Asset Management backed Prime Data Centres resulting in an expansion drive that was valued at the time at $5 billion. Macquarie Capital said it will “lend” its infrastructure investing and development franchise to Prime, for delivering and servicing data centre infrastructure solutions to enterprise and hyperscale companies.
In 2020 it backed Vantage with a £73 million debt investment.
More recently, last week Macquarie Asset Management confirmed that it and its co-investors had entered into binding agreements with Australia Tower Network, owned by AustralianSuper and Singtel, for the sale of Axicom for S$3.6 billon.
On the most recent pair up, Macquarie and NTT said their strategic real estate partnership will give Macquarie Asset Management the opportunity to invest real estate capital alongside NTT to support its expansion in Europe and North America. At the same time, this partnership provides NTT the opportunity to further accelerate its data centre development to take advantage of unprecedented growth in the market as the move to digital continues to grow globally.
NTT has committed to achieving net zero emissions across its data centre operations by 2030, by which time it expects its global data centre portfolio to be 100% powered by renewables. A further target for net zero emissions across the value chain has been set for 2040.
