ActivumSG completes €11m powered land sale to Pure DC

• Pure DC, which develops and operates data centres for hyperscale clients, has acquired a 190,000 sq ft plot of land in Madrid from ActivumSG Fund VI for €11 million
• The site was initially acquired in July 2021 from two local manufacturing companies
• ActivumSG’s in-country team secured a 25MW power agreement that permitted the connection of power cables through a dual feed from a nearby electric substation

Leading pan-European real estate private equity manager ActivumSG has, on behalf of ActivumSG Fund VI, sold a 190,000 sq ft plot of land in Meco, Madrid to Pure DC.

The site sits within the Madrid-to-Barcelona transport corridor, one of Spain and Europe’s most economically significant regions. It will be home to Pure DC’s first data centre in Spain.

Madrid is considered a highly sought-after data centre market with strong supply-demand dynamics and is comparably underdeveloped relative to other major European cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.

ActivumSG acquired the site in July 2021 from two local manufacturing companies. The acquisition followed an extensive analysis of the Madrid Municipality Electricity Grid to identify areas that would be most suited to data centre development.

ActivumSG secured the signing of a 25MW power agreement in 2022 to allow the connection of power cables from a nearby electric substation and was granted the dual feed in 2023.

Tech-Stone, a Madrid based real estate development and asset management firm involved throughout the process, will continue to manage the delivery of the scheme for Pure DC.

The transaction is ActivumSG’s first powered land sale. The manager sees further opportunity in acquiring strategically located sites where additional value can be unlocked through preparing them for data centre development before selling them to a specialist operator.

Dawn Childs, CEO, Pure DC, said: “Our expansion into Madrid allows us to serve a growing European market and to further extend our global portfolio of data centres. We are excited about working with partners in Spain to deliver another next-generation data centre campus which can help to satisfy the increasing need for data storage and processing power.”

Brian Betel, Head of Direct Asset Transactions, ActivumSG, said: “There is a huge opportunity in powered land plays as they help solve a pressing issue: a growing requirement for sites suitable for data centre development, which are needed to support the significant expected investment into emerging technologies such as AI. However, while not taking on development risk or the operational complexity of running a data centre, for a successful powered land play, you still need hands-on local expertise and relationships. ActivumSG has an extensive network of in-country teams across Europe to support sourcing and delivery of similar projects.”

Saul Goldstein, CEO, ActivumSG said: “This deal is a perfect demonstration of our Spanish teams’ creativity. We have capitalized on the growing interest of global data centre operators in Madrid by bringing power to land situated in a highly advantageous location for data centre development, allowing us to achieve a high exit multiple and deliver strong returns for our investors in an otherwise subdued transactional environment. However, we are not solely focused on disposals, and remain active on the acquisition side, with significant dry powder to deploy in Fund VII and an opportunistic mandate to take advantage of current market dislocation.”

About ActivumSG

ActivumSG is one of Europe’s largest independent real estate investment managers, with a proven track record of value-add and opportunistic strategies. With professionals in Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, ActivumSG executes a multi-sector specialist investment strategy, investing across the capital stack via direct real estate, corporate platforms and special situations.

Founded by ex-Cerberus private equity real estate veteran Saul Goldstein, ActivumSG has raised close to €3 billion in discretionary capital. Including affiliated entities and its advised funds’ portfolio companies, the ActivumSG ecosystem directly and indirectly advises on over €10bn in real estate and real estate-related investments.

For media enquiries email: activumsg@montfort.london

About Pure Data Centres Group

Pure DC develops and operates data centres for some of the world’s largest technology companies which meet today’s digital demands while safeguarding all our tomorrows. We currently have over 200MW of IT capacity live or under development across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including London, Dublin and Jakarta sites. We believe that data centres are an essential service which can be a force for good, creating employment opportunities, supporting local communities and investing in environmental restoration.

For media enquiries email: puredc@pagefield.co.uk