US-based asset manager PGIM has acquired a 20.7-hectare site in Melbourne’s west for a planned data centre campus, marking the first Australian investment for its USD 2 billion (AUD 2.8 billion) Global Data Centre Fund. The site, at 1 Oroya Drive in Truganina, was acquired on behalf of the fund and will form part of a broader global development pipeline spanning North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
PGIM said it intends to invest AUD 1.2 billion into the first of three planned development phases, though it declined to disclose the purchase price. Morgan Laughlin, global head of data centre investments for PGIM’s real estate business, told Bloomberg that Australia, and Melbourne in particular, is attracting strong interest from hyperscale operators.
“Demand for digital infrastructure has remained strong, with many leading hyperscalers announcing plans to develop or take up significant amount of capacity in and around Melbourne,” he said.
Fast track
PGIM has applied to the Victorian government’s Development Facilitation Program for an expedited planning pathway for the proposed campus. The program is designed to fast-track significant projects by bypassing local council approval thresholds for eligible developments.
According to a report by The Australian Financial Review, PGIM’s real estate arm acquired the Truganina site for AUD 8 million per hectare, equating to a total price of around AUD 165.6 million. The publication also reported that the firm is in due diligence to acquire a second site closer to Melbourne’s CBD.
The AFR said the Truganina asset will join PGIM’s Global Data Centre Fund, which has approximately AUD 2.8 billion to deploy globally, with almost a third earmarked for Australia. The fund’s Asia Pacific pipeline now exceeds 400MW. Laughlin said that Melbourne is a key focus for AI-driven growth, citing relative power and land availability compared to Sydney.
“Melbourne is a big focus for that growth, largely because of the availability of power and land relative to Sydney,” he said. “We’re capable of building a lot more than the initial 80 megawatts that we have planned, but that will be driven by future power availability.”
He added that the group would continue to assess further opportunities in the market. The acquisition comes as Victoria seeks to attract further data centre investment. The Victorian government has committed AUD 5.5 million to a Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan and AUD 8.1 million to train white-collar workers in AI, while signalling it would not impose new regulations on the sector.