Westend Real Assets, acting as asset manager, has acquired two colocation data centres in Hamburg on behalf of the specialised AIF “HAL Digitale Infrastruktur Deutschland 1”. The transaction took the form of an asset deal and comprises the ‘Leuchtturm’ data centre in Hamburg-Alsterdorf, which was built in 2013, and the ‘Rahlstedt’ data centre in Hamburg-Rahlstedt, which was built in 2024.
Both properties are operated by the IT service provider and data centre operator akquinet and are leased to companies in the municipal services sector, amongst others. The data centre in Hamburg-Alsterdorf was the first colocation data centre in Germany to be awarded the ‘Blue Angel’ eco-label (DE-UZ 214) by the Federal Environment Agency. Both sites offer capacity to expand IT performance in the future.
With this acquisition, Westend Real Assets is expanding the portfolio of its fund “HAL Digitale Infrastruktur Deutschland 1”, which specialises in digital infrastructure, by adding two leased and fully operational data centres. The fund now comprises three assets with a fund volume of more than 200 million euros.
The specialised AIF “HAL Digitale Infrastruktur Deutschland 1”, managed by Westend Real Assets, is the first investment vehicle for investments in modern colocation data centres in Germany. The fund is aimed exclusively at institutional investors. The investment focus is on established, long-term leased properties with potential for technical and energy-efficiency upgrades.
“The high demand for regional colocation data centres confirms our fund strategy. Companies and public institutions with stringent data protection requirements, in particular, are seeking solutions that give them control over their data and greater independence from international cloud providers. Through our investments, we are strengthening the necessary infrastructure and Germany’s position as a data hub,” says Lars Kurtz, Head of Institutional Sales at Westend Real Assets. “In the current market phase, institutional investors are seeking investments with predictable cash flows that are capable of generating excess returns compared to liquid markets. By acquiring the two Hamburg sites, we are capitalising on current market opportunities in the regional colocation data centre segment and strengthening the fund’s portfolio. In this way, we are successfully implementing our fund strategy and achieving our target performance.”
