Macquarie acquires majority stake in Australian data centre firm

Macquarie acquires majority stake in Australian data centre firm
Photo:Courtesy of AirTrunk

A consortium led by Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund 2 (MAIF2), a Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA)-managed infrastructure fund, has acquired an 88 per cent stake in AirTrunk, the Australian hyperscale data centre firm.

This investment values AirTrunk at more than A$3 billion and will accelerate its ambitious expansion across the Asia-Pacific (APAC), said in a statement.

The consortium, led by MAIF2 and including other MIRA-managed partners, acquired its stake in the business from Goldman Sachs, Sixth Street Partners (formerly TSSP) and founder, Robin Khuda.

Khuda will continue to hold a material stake in the business and will remain in his role as CEO under a long-term arrangement, supported by the existing executive management team. 

”The global data centre industry has grown significantly in recent years, driven by an exponential increase in data consumption, increasing cloud applications and the shift from internal IT infrastructure to outsourced resources,”said Frank Kwok, Head of MIRA Asia-Pacific.


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“Our investors are attracted to hyperscale data centre providers such as AirTrunk because they have attributes such as long-term revenue streams and demand resilience throughout market cycles,” he added. ”We are impressed by the quality of AirTrunk’s digital infrastructure platform, its growing footprint throughout key Asia-Pacific markets, and its focus on supporting clients such as major cloud providers.”

“We look forward to working with MIRA’s expert team to usher in a new and exciting era for AirTrunk, building on the strong foundation we’ve established over the past three years. Their investment will enable us to roll out our rapidly expanding hyperscale platform across the region. MIRA’s strong track record with infrastructure investments in APAC will provide valuable experience as AirTrunk consolidates and expands its Asia-Pacific presence,” said Robin Khuda.

AirTrunk is a best-in-class hyperscale data centre platform for large cloud, content and enterprise customers across APAC. Since the 2017 launch of its first hyperscale data centre in Western Sydney, AirTrunk has rapidly grown into a leading regional platform with facilities in Sydney (Sydney West and Sydney North), Melbourne, Singapore and Hong Kong, and a well-developed expansion plan in other markets.

MIRA is one of the world’s leading alternative asset managers, and its portfolio is relied upon by more than 100 million people each day.  MIRA has extensive experience in developing digital infrastructure assets and assisting management to operate them, with investments in data centres, fibre assets and telecommunication tower businesses across Europe, North America, and APAC.