BlackRock, through its European value-add real estate series, plans to commit up to £500 million to an investment programme in "next generation enterprise" data centres across the UK.
The global investment giant said the plans will finance the modernisation of operational enterprise data centres to better serve blue-chip companies with enhanced hybrid cloud solutions.
The investment programme will be delivered by a new data centre operating platform called Gravity Edge, which is a joint venture between BlackRock and DGP, a specialist digital infrastructure investor and adviser.
The platform's strategy is to acquire, expand and refurbish enterprise data centres in UK markets where supply has been constrained by power availability, it added. Gravity Edge will build out a portfolio of 5 to 20MW data centres.
It said these will provide higher-density racks, resilient power, advanced cooling and ultra-low latency connectivity to support businesses in deploying more advanced AI workloads, digital transformation initiatives and other high-performance applications.
BlackRock and DGP have launched with an off-market acquisition of an enterprise data centre strategically located west of London, which it said is is underpinned by a Tier-1 financial services tenant. The facility has near-term expansion potential to 20MW with "sub-millisecond latency" to the London catchment. With an initial investment of over £100 million, the site will be modernised to unlock more capacity, improve operational efficiency and meet the needs of high-density enterprise compute, it added.
The initial asset represents one of only a limited number of sites in the London catchment capable of delivering greater than 5 MWs of critical load to new customers, the group said.
Thomas Mueller-Borja, global co-head of real estate at BlackRock, said in a statement: “Investing in the critical real estate that underpins our economies is essential for accelerating the digital transition. With capital markets largely focused on the hyperscaler end of the market, enterprise data centres play a crucial role in boosting overall compute capacity and serving UK plc with more sophisticated digital capabilities. With the launch of our investment programme, we are enabling our clients to access new opportunities across the data centre value chain and unlocking capital for what we believe will be a transformational platform in the data centre market together with our experienced partners at DGP.”
Thor Johnsen, managing partner at DGP, said: “We are thrilled to partner with BlackRock in building out this data centre platform in the UK, which has the potential to scale across select sites in Europe. Gravity Edge currently delivers mission-critical data centre services to a Tier 1 financial institution at an exceptionally well-run site. We plan to further modernise the facility, enhancing energy efficiency, enabling higher rack density, and unlocking additional sellable capacity. Our shared vision is to establish Gravity Edge as the default choice for customers requiring high-performance, mission-critical infrastructure, with operations designed for modern enterprise use cases in proximity to major urban hubs.”
The investment programme will deploy capital from BlackRock’s flagship European value-add real estate series, which provides financing solutions for recapitalising, repositioning and rebuilding real estate assets. With investments in the UK, France, Germany, the Nordics, and Spain, the strategy has developed a diversified pan-European portfolio that is closely aligned with long-term structural “mega forces” such as AI and digital disruption. BlackRock’s real estate business manages approximately $25 billion in assets under management globally on behalf of global institutional investors, including some of the firm’s most strategic clients.