Digital Investment Platform SDAX Talks Data Centre Strategies on MTD TV Thursday 

Mingtiandi’s APAC Data Centre Forum continues on Thursday with a look at fund raising for one of real estate’s hottest asset classes in a spotlight interview with top executives of digital asset investment platform SDAX. The interview will explore how the company, which was relaunched in July, is giving investors access to private funds backing data centre projects.

Formed from the merger of Digiassets Exchange Singapore and Minterest Holdings, SDAX has identified Asia Pacific’s data centre sector as one of the top opportunities for earning returns from real asset investments in the region, with chief executive officer Raymond Poh and senior relationship manager Jamie Chua, who specialises in data centre strategies, joining the interview at 10:00 AM HKT on 8 September.

In the 45-minute discussion, which is sponsored by Yardi, Poh and Chua will speak with Mingtiandi’s Michael Cole about how SDAX is harnessing the company’s blockchain platform to traditional private investment structures to provide access to strategies like ESR’s $1.5 billion pan-Asia data centre fund.

The interview follows Tuesday’s talk with Chris Street of JLL and Nik de Ynchausti of Manila’s YCO Cloud Centers, which opened the third annual Mingtiandi APAC Data Centre Forum on MTD TV.

Data Centre Supply, Demand Up

SDAX was relaunched in July to provide a digital asset exchange platform for tokenization and trading of asset-backed digital securities to family offices, accredited investors and ultra-high net worth individuals.

The platform gives smaller investors access to private vehicles typically available only to large institutions by making bite-sized digital securities tradeable on blockchain.

In December last year, the startup raised S$24 million ($17.3 million) in Series B funding from regional investors including port operator PSA International, investment firm Straits Trading Company and professional services consultancy RHT Group.

One-on-One With PDG’s Salgame

Following the SDAX talk, the APAC Data Centre Forum will continue next Tuesday, 13 September, with a spotlight session featuring Princeton Digital Group chairman and chief executive Rangu Salgame who joins Mingtiandi’s Michael Cole to provide an update on the pan-Asia hyperscale platform’s continuing expansion after raising $505 billion in a funding round which closed in February of this year.

One day after the Princeton Digital show, the APAC Data Centre Forum will continue on Wednesday, 14 September as Mingtiandi welcomes a panel of hyperscale experts from Logos, Cushman & Wakefield and Baker McKenzie to discuss opportunities available to investors in Asia Pacific’s data centre sector, as well as the challenges facing competitors in the fast-growing segment.

In the hyperscale session, Mingtiandi is hosting Paul Dwyer, head of data centres for LOGOS; Cushman & Wakefield managing director Vivek Dahiya, who leads data centre advisory in the region for the consulting firm and Baker McKenzie partner Edwin Wong, who advises on fund investments in the data centre industry.

On 15 September, MTD TV will focus on the Greater China market with a panel led by Joelin Ma, director for non-listed real estate in Asia with APG Asset Management. Ma will be joined by Zhang Hong, head of private equity at law firm Baker McKenzie FenXun and Johnny Shao, managing director for investments at Gaw Capital, to discuss the forces making mainland China and Hong Kong the region’s largest data centre market.

The month-long series will return on Tuesday, 20 September with a panel session dedicated to Japanese and Korean data centres with speakers from ESR, Nuveen, JLL and EdgeConneX.

The final session in the APAC Data Centre Forum, on 23 September, will welcome executives from SC Zeus Data Centers, Ivanhoé Cambridge, SDAX and Cushman & Wakefield to discuss strategies for sustainable data centre innovation.