Queensland Investment Corporation in mix for iseek data centres

Data centres are much in demand in recent times with expectations of growing demand for their use due to artificial intelligence.

The Queensland Investment Corporation is believed to be circling the data centre operator iseek, which is up for sale through Amber Infrastructure.

It comes after QIC was believed to be in the mix to buy the Australian data centres on offer from Global Switch.

However, it appears that the sale process has gone quiet for now, fuelling suggestions the process may have stalled.

Other parties that are believed to be around the hoop for iseek are infrastructure investors Igneo and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.

It is understood that the iseek offering generates annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about $25m to $30m.

The understanding is that price expectations for the business have been in the order of $600m to $700m, but parties have been prepared to pay a price closer to $400m, say sources.

Data centres are much in demand in recent times with expectations of growing demand for their use due to artificial intelligence. The other group selling assets in the space is Japan’s Fujitsu, but the understanding is the business consists of an operating platform and the company does not have the real estate.

Still, the understanding is that the Japanese technology company has hopes of netting between $500m to $1bn if it can find a buyer for its six Australian data centres through advisory firm Sayers.

Grant Samuel is working on the sale of iseek, which consists of five data centres across Brisbane, northern Queensland, Sydney and South Australia.

Its clients include government customers.

A $2bn stake in CDC Data Centres owner Commonwealth Super is also tipped to soon be on the market, while Blackstone remains the frontrunner to buy the $15bn Airtrunk.