Bain Capital and Aquila Group have announced a strategic partnership in the European data centre sector, whereby Bain Capital will acquire 80% of Aquila Group's data centre subsidiary AQ Compute. The partnership will see a multi-billion euro investment to accelerate the development and operation of sustainable data centres for hyperscale and AI customers on the continent.
AQ Compute, founded by Aquila Group in 2020, offers colocation services and modular data centres optimised for artificial intelligence, primarily using clean energy, the company says. The company opened its first sustainable data centre near Oslo in early 2024, with additional projects in Barcelona, Milan, and other locations.
‘With our continued 20% stake, we will ensure that AQ Compute's growth aligns with our long-term vision for sustainable infrastructure, leveraging synergies with Aquila Clean Energy, an independent clean energy developer and producer,’ says Roman Rosslenbroich, co-founder and CEO of Aquila Group, who explains, the partnership with Bain Capital favourably positions AQ Compute to expand its capabilities and consolidate its role in Europe's digital infrastructure. He further details that Aquila will invest several hundred million euros along with a larger contribution from Bain Capital, and Aquila Capital, the group's specialist investment management subsidiary, will provide co-investments.
Ali Haroon, Partner at Bain Capital, said: ‘The European data centre sector presents an attractive market opportunity, driven by strong demand for cloud, the need for high performance computing and artificial intelligence deployments, and data sovereignty across the region. Through this partnership with Aquila Group, we bring a differentiated renewable energy angle to address the growing energy challenges in this critical part of Europe's infrastructure.’
Bain Capital principal Michael Huber recalls that the firm has invested more than $1 billion in real estate over the past three years and notes that its first European investment in data centres establishes a truly global platform for the firm. According to Huber, this investment will benefit and complement its previous experience, including the construction of one of Asia's largest data centres, Chindata, and the backing of DC BLOX in the US.
CBRE, through its Real Estate Investment Banking division, has exclusively advised Aquila Group on the capitalisation and sale of its majority stake in AQ Compute to Bain Capital. Enrique Martinez Laguna, CBRE's Vice President in Spain, said: ‘The success of this capitalisation transaction goes back to the origin of the platform with the support of CBRE in the pioneering strategic alliance to lead the Data Center segment in Europe, under the highest standards of sustainability and quality. The scale of the platform will allow us to drive the development of the sector, especially in secondary European markets, which are set to lead the next wave of data centre growth driven by the transition to the cloud, but above all by Artificial Intelligence’.
Secondary markets to play a key role in the development of data centres
CBRE highlights that, in the face of energy and land shortages in the FLAP-D markets (London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin), significant opportunities are emerging for other European markets such as Spain, with a particular focus on Madrid and Barcelona. In addition, secondary cities such as Milan, Zurich, Berlin, Oslo and Vienna are also experiencing higher growth than FLAP-D markets since 2020, driven by increasing capacity demand and saturation in the latter.
Spain is positioned as a strategic location for data centre development, thanks to its key infrastructure and the presence of submarine fibre optic cables. Currently, the country is among the top ten countries in terms of number of data centres, with more than 140 facilities. Madrid ranks second in the Tier II cities by capacity, with 196 MW in 2024, an increase of 292% from 50 MW in 2019. Barcelona, meanwhile, ranks tenth, with 39 MW of TI area under delivery and approximately 60 MW of TI in the pipeline. It is anticipated that capacity in Spain will continue to increase exponentially in the coming years.
