This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AS it expands the reach of its digital infrastructure business, Infratel’s investment in CDC Data Centres has seen a valuation uplift of $466 million over the last three months.
As at 30 June, Infratil’s 48.25% investment in CDC is now valued at between $4,159 million to $4,940 million, according to independent valuations.
This is up significantly from its valuation of $3,783 million to $4,368 million in just March this year.
Last month, Infratel announced an equity raising to expand CDC’s pipeline, with CDC currently in advanced negotiations with customers for over 400MW of capacity across multiple sites.
CDC’s new centres are expected to come online across the next four to five years.
This includes CDC’s new Sydney data centre campus at Marsden Park, which is currently in development and boasts a future build capacity by 661MW to 1,197MW and total planned capacity of 1,887MW (up from 1,220MW in March 2024).
Likewise, Macquarie Data Centres is set to to acquire land and buildings from Keppel DC REIT in a $174 million deal.
This expanded pipeline reflects the seemingly ever-growing demand for data centre capacity, particularly amidst the rise of generative AI and Cloud use.
CBRE’s annual Global Data Centre Investor Survey, recently found that 97% of investors are planning to increase their investment into data centres in 2024.
With CBRE’s Q1 Asia Pacific Data Centre Trends report revealing new Australian data centre supply is now fully contracted, due to this rapid cloud adoption and AI demand.
CDC’s Total operating capacity is up 34MW since 31 March 2024, reflecting CDC’s first data centre development in Melbourne, Brooklyn 1, which has commenced operations.
Net debt as at 30 June 2024 was at $3,262 million, as CDC intends to continue accessing a debt markets to provide further funding for its expanded development pipeline.
“The blended cost of equity used in the valuation has increased from 11.25% to 11.50% between March and June 2024. This primarily reflects an increase in gearing as a result of higher forecast debt levels as CDC continues investment in its expanded development pipeline,” said Infratel.
“The increase in gearing is partially offset by a decrease in the asset-specific risk premium, driven by the valuer’s assessment of the status of CDC’s customer discussions and their overall view of CDC’s ability to deliver on its forecast growth. The risk-free rate has remained constant at 3.90%”
CDC reaffirmed its FY2025 full-year EBITDAF guidance of $320 million to $330 million.
