Macquarie’s Dutch Data Center Stake Attracts Igneo, Orix

Igneo Infrastructure Partners and Japan’s Orix Corp. are among those in the next round of bidding for Macquarie Capital’s majority stake in a Dutch hyperscale data center, according to people familiar with the matter.

Canada’s Northleaf Capital has also proceeded in the bidding process, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Macquarie’s stake in the data center could be valued at about €900 million ($1 billion), the people said. Suitors are expected to submit final offers next month, they said.

Deliberations are ongoing and companies could still opt out of the bidding, the people said. Macquarie could also decide to keep the asset for longer, they added.

Representatives for Macquarie, Northleaf and Orix declined to comment. A spokesperson for Igneo didn’t have any immediate comment.

Infrastructure has emerged as a key theme for investors seeking to profit from the AI boom, setting off an arms race among the world’s largest alternative asset managers to acquire the skills necessary to build and operate complex assets like data centers. In October, Macquarie Group Ltd. agreed to sell Aligned Data Center in a $40 billion deal to a consortium led by BlackRock Inc.’s Global Infrastructure Partners.

The Dutch facility, namely Amsterdam 1 Data Center, located in the Schiphol-Rijk district of the city, came out of a partnership between Macquarie Asset Management and NTT Inc. that started in 2022 as the Japanese firm sought a partner to develop data in Europe and North America. Macquarie Capital owns a 75% stake in the Dutch data center, while NTT owns the rest.