The super fund has invested US$300 million to expand its digital infrastructure exposure across APAC data centres.
Aware Super has announced a US$300 million ($460 million) investment into the Skyline JV data centre business, which indirectly owns Vantage Data Centers APAC, a global provider of hyperscale data centres with more than 10 assets across Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
The investment builds on Aware Super’s existing relationship with DigitalBridge Group, following the partners’ 2023 co-investment in Switch Data Centres in the United States.
The transaction lifts the $210 billion fund’s total digital infrastructure investments beyond $6 billion, representing more than a quarter of its overall infrastructure portfolio. Aware Super said the allocation reflects its conviction in fibre networks, data centres and connectivity platforms.
Aware Super head of infrastructure Mark Hector said digital infrastructure remained central to the fund’s infrastructure strategy.
“Digital infrastructure is a critical plank of Aware Super’s infrastructure investment strategy,” Hector said.
“For a number of years, we have captured the mega-trends of digital infrastructure across geographies, recognising early the transformative potential of fibre networks, data centres, and connectivity platforms.”
Hector said the investment provided exposure to the fast-growing APAC data centre market, driven by digitisation, cloud adoption and artificial intelligence.
“This is a compelling opportunity for Aware Super to gain exposure to the digitalisation-driven high-growth APAC data centre market, with the region covering 60 per cent of the world’s population and projected to be the strongest growing cloud region,” he said.
“Even though the APAC region is forecast to require up to 20GW of data centre capacity by 2030 – driven by hyperscaler cloud deployments and Generative AI training workloads – the region remains underrepresented on data centre deployments per capita, further highlighting the attractiveness of this opportunity.”
Hector added the transaction would strengthen the fund’s hybrid investment model through its partnership with DigitalBridge and acknowledged the experience of Vantage’s management team.
DigitalBridge chief strategy officer Kevin Smithen said the investment deepened the firm’s relationship with Aware Super in a rapidly expanding market.
“We are delighted to deepen our partnership with Aware Super in one of the fastest-growing data centre markets globally,” Smithen said.
“Vantage APAC is a high-quality platform operating in markets with strong structural demand, and this investment aligns with our strategy of supporting leading operators as cloud and AI workloads accelerate across the region.”
Vantage Data Centers president for APAC, Jeremy Deutsch, said demand across the APAC region was accelerating.
“Vantage’s APAC business is growing at an unprecedented pace. We appreciate the confidence our investors have in our platform and in our ability to execute at scale to deliver digital infrastructure to the world’s most innovative technology companies,” Deutsch said.
“With partners like DigitalBridge and Aware Super, we are well positioned to expand our APAC portfolio to meet AI and cloud demand in markets that matter most to our customers.”
Aware Super’s existing digital infrastructure investments include Vocus, 2Degrees, Switch and euNetworks, which the fund said have delivered above-benchmark returns as it capitalises on global digitisation, data consumption and connectivity trends on behalf of its 1.2 million members.
Vantage APAC forms part of Vantage Data Centers’ global network across North America, APAC and EMEA, with the Skyline JV investment supporting a significant pipeline of growth opportunities in the region.
