Blackstone Launches Asia Data Centre Platform With Pair of India Projects

Blackstone on Tuesday announced the launch of its first wholly owned data centre platform in Asia, Lumina CloudInfra, with two large pipeline projects in India, choosing one of 2022’s most resilient property markets as the jumping-off point for an expansion of its digital infrastructure footprint in the region.

The Manhattan-based private equity titan has tapped Anil Reddy, formerly head of global cloud infrastructure at Microsoft, to serve as global CEO and lead the platform’s growth across Asia, Lumina said in a release.

No specifics were revealed for the pair of maiden projects under the new venture, which is owned and managed by Blackstone’s real estate and tactical opportunities funds. According to Lumina’s bare-bones website, the platform has a planned capacity of 600 megawatts across Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Noida.

“The launch of Lumina showcases Blackstone’s strengths — scale, network, and sector expertise — to address India’s growing demand for mission-critical data infrastructure,” said Jasvinder Khaira, head of digital infrastructure in Blackstone’s tactical opportunities division. “Growth of the public and private cloud is one of our highest-conviction investment themes globally, particularly in India where many of our investments have centred around technology-enabled businesses and properties.”

Microsoft Cloud Expert

Reddy spent more than a decade at Microsoft in a series of roles, including chief strategy officer for India and director of the Azure cloud platform’s expansion into India and China. In his final post, he helped grow the tech giant’s cloud infrastructure from 400 megawatts of supply to 1.6 gigawatts globally.

Working with Reddy will be Sujeet Deshpande as Lumina’s India CEO. Deshpande joins the nascent venture from UK-based Colt Data Centre Services, where he served as president and country head of India for over three years.

“I am thrilled to help lead the growth of Lumina with Blackstone, centred around people and values of customer-centricity, reliability and innovation,” Reddy said. “The data centre sector is anchored by strong demand for data creation and storage around the world, particularly in India where many of the fastest-growing companies are based.”

The world’s second most populous country outperformed regional peers in terms of real estate investment activity in the third quarter of this year. India was one of only two major Asian markets (the other being Singapore) where deal volume grew in the period, soaring 79 percent year-on-year to $900 million, according to the latest Capital Trends report by MSCI Real Assets.

“India’s comparatively higher yields have drawn a variety of international investors this year, with Keppel, GIC and Brookfield closing deals in the third quarter,” MSCI said.

Portfolios Proliferate

Blackstone’s latest initiative in India follows the firm’s assembly of the Horizon Industrial Parks logistics portfolio, the Nucleus Office Parks collection and the Nexus Malls retail platform, the latter of which is reportedly to be spun off into India’s first mall REIT, Nexus Select Trust, via a $500 million IPO. Blackstone also sponsored India’s first-ever listed trust, Embassy Office Parks REIT, back in 2018.

The fund manager led by billionaire Stephen Schwarzman has backed Asian data centres before through its $450 million investment in Beijing-based VNET Group, including the purchase of $250 million worth of convertible notes in a deal announced in January.

Closer to home, Blackstone acquired QTS Realty Trust last year for $10 billion, bringing 7 million square feet (650,321 square metres) of North American and European data centre space into the fold.