Partners Group buys GreenSquareDC for $1.2 billion

Partners Group has agreed to acquire GreenSquare Data Centres (GreenSquareDC) in Australia, committing up to AS$1.2 billion to transform the company into what the venture capital firm said will be a next-generation data centre platform.

The global private markets firm will support GreenSquareDC in becoming an owner, developer and operator of large-scale sustainable data centres across key Australian cities.

GreenSquareDC recently acquired its first site in Sydney, a brownfield data centre with an existing powered shell and adjoining landbank that will enable expansion to 96 MW of compute capacity.

The company has also secured land options across Sydney, Melbourne and Perth in locations with strong domestic fibre connections and global connectivity via established and planned subsea cables.

"Our customer-centric approach, efficient design, leading technology, and sustainability focus positions us well in the market," Walt Coulston, chief executive officer at GreenSquareDC, said.

"The acquisition of our first site in Sydney provides GreenSquareDC with a speed-to-market advantage in serving our customers' near-term requirements."

Under Partners Group's ownership, GreenSquareDC will generate revenues through long-term take-or-pay contracts with global hyperscale customers and cloud operators.

The company's design and cooling technology provides efficient power and water consumption and caters to a wide range of server power densities.

Partners Group has invested over US$4 billion in data centres since 2021, including EdgeCore in the US and atNorth in the Nordic region.

The firm will apply its platform-building approach to scale GreenSquareDC, supporting management in acquiring sites, building a pipeline of opportunities, establishing customer and supplier relationships, and implementing operational capabilities.

"The Australian data centre sector is experiencing robust demand from hyperscale customers for high-density spaces to support cloud and AI workloads," Bharath Rajagopalan, member of management, infrastructure Asia at Partners Group, said.

"The implementation of supportive policies driving domestic AI research and sovereign AI models in Australia is also expected to support future demand."

Partners Group is one of the largest firms in the global private markets industry, with around 1,800 professionals and over USD 150 billion in overall assets under management globally.