Fujitsu sells five Australian data centres

Fujitsu has finally sold its data centre business in Australia, substantially completing a strategic move that has been in train since 2024.

The Tokyo-listed company announced on LinkedIn that it had entered an agreement with Next Capital Private Equity to sell five data centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Under the new owners, the data centres "will become an independent, Australian-managed national platform."

Fujitsu Oceania chief executive Peter Grassi said that the sale reflected efforts to change the business’s investment strategy.

A spokesperson for Next Capital confirmed the sale to iTnews but declined to comment on the value of the deal, which the Australian Financial Review speculated to be just shy $200 million.

If correct, that puts the data centres well short of valuations that were mooted in 2024 when reports of the potential sale first surfaced.

At the time, it was reported that Fujitsu had engaged Sayers Advisory to auction six data centres in Australia in a deal expected to fetch the Japanese giant between $500 million and $1 billion.

Next Capital declined to comment on any previous valuations and said that Sayers - which has since rebranded - was not involved in the transaction.

Originally codenamed “Project Emerald”, it’s understood that the earlier sales process involved three facilities in Sydney, and three across Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Given that the current transaction involves sites in all four metropolitan centres, it stands to reason one of the three Sydney locations – either in Greystanes, Homebush Bay or North Ryde – has been excluded from the sale.

The private equity firm’s spokesperson confirmed that one site of the original six from the earlier sales process was not included in the current transaction.

Next Capital said that it expected all of Fujitsu’s 58-strong local data centre management team to be retained as part of the transaction, saying that they were “central to the business and its growth plans”.

“This is not about replacing the existing management team. The current team will transfer with the business and will be supported by a new dedicated management team focused solely on the data centre platform, its customers and its growth,” Next Capital’s spokesperson said.

Fujitsu’s decision was not driven be concerns about data sovereignty laws, but it said that “Australian ownership" of the data centres "is, however, helpful given the customer base”.

The size of that customer base remains unclear. Next Capital declined to confirm reports that the facilities serve around 80 clients across enterprise, financial services and government.

It’s also unclear what the state of technology investment is in the facilities and their capacity to handle AI workloads.

“These are high-quality, enterprise-grade data centres that continue to support critical workloads. They provide a strong foundation for future growth,” Next Capital’s spokesperson said.

“As with any data centre business, technology will continue to be upgraded over time as customer requirements evolve. AI workloads will be supported where they suit the facilities and available capacity."

Next Capital is not new to investing in the data centre sector. In September 2018 it took a 51 percent stake in Brisbane-headquartered data centre builder iseek Communications – around the same time that NEXTDC started throwing billions into projects to develop facilities in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

The deal valued iseek at $60 million including and reportedly delivered a four-fold return to Next Capital in three years.