Partners Group, one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry, is acquiring a majority shareholding in Singapore-headquartered data center operator Digital Halo Pte Ltd with plans to transform the latter into a regional data center platform with over 500MW capacity. Alongside existing shareholder ARCH Capital, the Swiss firm plans to commit around USD 400 million to support its pan-Asian expansion targeted initially at Johor Bahru, Malaysia and Manila, the Philippines. ARCH Capital will remain as a minority shareholder following the acquisition.
In a press release, Partners Group said it intends to work with the management of Digital Halo to expand across multiple markets in Southeast and North Asia with next-generation data centers of over 500 MW of capacity. This includes the construction and operation of two seed assets in Manila, Philippines and Johor Bahru, Malaysia, both of which are located in high growth data center markets with potential for significant expansion.
The company will provide built-to-suit and colocation services to hyperscale and enterprise customers under long-term contracts, generating a predictable revenue profile. Demand is robust for data center capacity in Asia which is being driven by structural thematic tailwinds such as enterprise cloud migration, continued growth in data usage and e-commerce, and demand for AI training and inference workloads.
Digital Halo is the fourth data center acquisition for Partners Group globally since 2021, with investment totalling over US$ 4 billion globally, demonstrating its thematic conviction in this high growth sector.
Current assets include EdgeCore, a leading hyperscale data center platform in the US, atNorth, a leading pan-Nordic data center platform, and GreenSquareDC, a data center provider in Australia.
“Data centers continue to be a thematic area of focus for us globally, and we believe that specific markets within Asia will offer significant growth opportunities in the years ahead. We will partner with the experienced management team at Digital Halo, which has a track record of delivering and managing data center capacity for hyperscale and enterprise clients, and leverage Partners Group’s network of global advisors to build the preferred regional data center operator in Asia,” said Luv Parikh, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure Asia, Partners Group.
Kai Goh, CEO and Co-Founder of Digital Halo, added: “After bringing our first site in Manila into operation, securing power and all necessary building permits in Johor, and obtaining exclusivity on a third site, we are pleased to bring Partners Group on board to drive the next phase of our growth. We plan to build and operate next generation, sustainable and AI-ready data center campuses that service the needs of both US and Asian hyperscalers and enterprises across Asia. We look forward to leveraging Partners Group’s significant experience in building next generation infrastructure to capitalize on opportunities across the region.”
Partners Group has over USD 150 billion in assets under management (AuM) overall globally out of which USD 27 billion are in Infrastructure business. The firm was advised by Latham & Watkins on the transaction.