CapitaLand raises S$150 million at first close of India data centre fund

Global real asset manager CapitaLand Investment Ltd has raised about S$150 million ($117 million) in equity at the first close of its CapitaLand India Data Centre Fund (CIDCF), as it steps up its focus on data centre development opportunities in the country.

The first close was anchored by a third-party global institutional investor, along with a general partner commitment from CapitaLand Investment, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The fund is targeting a final close of around S$300 million ($234 million).

Following the first close, CIDCF will acquire a 20.2% interest in three data centre assets from CapitaLand India Trust for a consideration of S$99.73 million ($78 million), or about ₹702 crore.

The acquisition gives the fund exposure to three large-scale data centre projects in Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. The assets are either operational or under development and together have a combined gross power capacity of 200 megawatts (MW). Power has been secured for all three projects, the firm said.

Data centre boom

India’s data centre capacity is expected to double by 2027, driven by cloud adoption, data localization requirements and the growth of AI-led workloads, according to a Macquarie Equity Research report in October.

“The successful first close underscores investor support for our data centre strategy in India,” said Andrew Lim, group chief operating officer at CapitaLand Investment.

In Mumbai, the fund will invest in CapitaLand DC Mumbai at Airoli, Navi Mumbai. Tower 1 is complete with an IT capacity of 34MW and a gross capacity of 50MW. Tower 2 is under development and is expected to add 37MW of IT load and 55MW of gross capacity.

The second asset is CapitaLand DC Chennai, located in Ambattur. The data centre is under development and will have 34MW of IT capacity and 53MW of gross power capacity.

The third project is CapitaLand DC Hyderabad in Madhapur. It is also under development and will have 27MW of IT capacity and 42MW of gross capacity.

The fund will also have a right of first offer to acquire an interest in CapitaLand India Trust’s fourth data centre asset, CapitaLand DC Bengaluru.

“CIDCF’s portfolio is located within established data centre corridors with access to power and network connectivity,” said Hardik Gesota, managing director and head of India Private Funds at CapitaLand Investment.

CapitaLand said the three data centres are being built to support hyperscalers and large enterprise customers.

CapitaLand Investment manages about S$8.4 billion ($6.55 billion) of assets in India, spanning business parks, logistics, data centres, lodging and coworking. The company operates across eight Indian cities and manages 38 assets with a total gross floor area of about 39 million square feet.