The venture will be owned 50:50 and will further strengthen Colt DCS’ presence in the Tokyo and Osaka regions of Japan.
Mitsui & Co. is said to be planning to invest a total of $2.7 billion by 2026 in the development of new data centres and the acquisition of existing facilities, and the Fidelity deal is part of this effort.
Mitsui has joined with other overseas operators to build three large facilities at three locations - including in Kyoto and Chiba - by 2026 at a cost of around $1.35 billion.
Colt DCS currently has 50MW of existing built capacity in Japan, which will almost triple to 140MW following the joint venture, said the partners. The Fidelity-owned firm pre-sold 94% of capacity before the launch of its Inzai Three facility in November last year.
“Japan remains a strategic country of focus for our regional expansion, where the demand for large-scale data centre capacity outstrips supply,” said Niclas Sanfridsson, CEO of Colt Data Centre Services.
“Whilst Colt DCS already has a solid reputation in the market for working with the world’s largest hyperscale cloud providers and multinational companies, the partnership with Mitsui and its strategic alliances will provide new opportunities for us to further penetrate the domestic enterprise sector and accelerate our land banking strategy,” said Sanfridsson.
Colt DCS will be the exclusive service provider for the design, development, operations and customer service management for the joint venture. Mitsui & Co. Realty Management, a private real estate fund management subsidiary of Mitsui, will serve as the asset manager for the venture, covering structuring, financing, land sourcing, development support and Japanese customer marketing.
Shinsuke Waka, general manager of the financial business division of Mitsui & Co., said: “Through the management of the Mitsui Fund and our joint venture, Mitsui will utilise its unique financial and industrial capabilities to respond to hyperscale market needs with its global partners.”
