FEATURE
FEATURE
DATA CENTRE
INVESTMENT
LEVELS IN
EUROPE HAVE
BEEN IMPACTED
BY BREXIT
UNCERTAINTY.
T
The vast majority (92%) of debt and
equity investors surveyed in the following
report, European Data Centre Investment
Outlook: Opportunities and Risks in the
Months Ahead, expect the overall value
of investment into Europe’s data centre
infrastructure to increase over the
next 24 months, according to research
commissioned by DLA Piper.
Data centres are used by organisations
for the remote storage, processing and
distribution of large amounts of data and
are currently estimated to use 3% to 4%
of world’s power. According to DLA Piper’s
report, investors anticipate an investment
increase in data centres of between 10%
and 29% over the next two years.
Data from Acuris in the report shows that
the first half of 2019 saw a notable rise
in investment – with €1 billion flooding
into the data centres market in H1 alone,
compared with a total of €1.5 billion for
the whole of 2018.
Data centre investment levels in Europe
have been impacted by Brexit uncertainty.
All respondents agreed that it has
negatively impacted the data centre
infrastructure market since June 2016,
with 56% of equity investors going as far
as to say that the negative impact has
been ‘significant’. On the flip side, the
continuing weakness of sterling means
UK assets may look like a bargain for
Eurozone investors.
In an increasingly interconnected world,
with an ever-expanding need for data
storage facilities, respondents are
expecting rent charges to increase for
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
data centres with superior technology,
with over a third expecting the increase to
be 10% or more.
The majority of respondents chose
Germany as the European country that
will see the biggest growth in data centre
project investment over the next 24
months. Investors also expect the UK
to see some of the biggest investment
growth in the industry, followed by the
Netherlands and France.
Commenting on the findings, Partner
and Head of the Infrastructure Sector,
EMEA and Asia Pacific, at DLA Piper,
Martin Nelson-Jones, said: “Investment
into European data centres has spiked
recently, with transaction values reaching
a new high. Figures for the first half of
2019 suggest strongly that another record
year could be in sight. While not without
risks, data centres are attractive to many
infrastructure investors.”
Intellectual Property and Technology
partner at DLA Piper, Anthony Day, said:
“What makes data centres so attractive
to many investors? Strong fundamentals
help. While data centre investment can
involve a higher level of risk as compared
to other types of infrastructure assets,
demand for Big Data, cloud computing,
Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of
Things is rising significantly. The macro
trend is that these technologies drive
significantly increased demand for data
and digital services and, by extension,
the buildings and equipment that make
them possible.”
Gerard Thibault, Chief Technology Officer,
Kao Data, also commented: “Europe is
home to some of the most active data
centre hubs in the world and is currently
the focus of probably the largest data
centre M&A transaction on record.
Forecasts released in Q3 2019 by CBRE
estimated the overall annual take up for
the FLAP markets would reach almost
200MW – the highest level ever recorded.
“Hub cities have developed around
existing availability zones, such as
Slough in London and the Schiphol area
of Amsterdam. However, the availability
of suitable land, accessibility to power
and fibre routes has become increasingly
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