Hogan Lovells have advised Keppel DC REIT (Keppel), the first pure-play data centre REIT listed in Asia and on the Singapore Exchange, on their acquisition of a data centre in the Celtic Gateway Business Park for £34m. The data centre is fully let to one of largest global cloud service providers on a 15-year full repairing and insuring lease that commenced in June 2016.
Keppel DC REIT principally invests in income-producing data centre assets, and other real estate assets, in Asia Pacific and Europe. This is Keppel's fourth acquisition since its listing towards the end of 2014.
The Hogan Lovells team was led by Partner Nicola Evans, with support from Partner Dion Panambalana and Counsel Simon Keen (Real Estate), Partner Elliot Weston and Counsel Aaron Burchell (Tax) and Partner Fabrizio Lollieri (Transfer Pricing).
Commenting on the acquisition, Dion Panambalana, said:
"Keppel's decision to invest in Cardiff is proof that, despite the Brexit vote in June, real estate assets that are well-let and in the right locations remain attractive to investors and the market for them is still active. The UK remains one of the most globally traded investment markets and it is good to see global investors' continued interest in quality real estate assets.
"Cities like Cardiff, which has a growing business community and a strong Government presence, are particularly attractive and infrastructure assets like data centres that serve business and domestic requirements should have medium to long term resilience."
Nicola Evans added:
"Our highly regarded global network of real estate lawyers is the perfect platform from which to advise investors like Keppel on their investments around the world. Keppel and Hogan Lovells have worked together successfully for more than 10 years on a variety of projects across the globe. We are keen to develop our relationship with Keppel further and look forward to working with them as they continue to grow their business."
The transaction exchanged and completed on Thursday 6 October 2016.
