Aroundtown says first German data centre to go live within 3 years

By Marleen Kaesebier and Emanuele Berro

(Reuters) -Aroundtown, one of Germany's largest listed landlords, said on Wednesday that the first of its data centres is set to go live in Berlin within the next three years.

The real estate company said in May that it aimed to convert vacant office spaces into data centres as European demand for them grows, having obtained one regulatory permit in Frankfurt at the time.

While the Frankfurt site is still waiting for grid allocation, six Berlin data centre locations have now received initial energy approval, chief capital markets officer Timothy Wright said. Final approval is expected in the coming months.

They have, however, not yet been granted the full power supply the company applied for, as grids in many large cities in Europe are at capacity, Wright said in an interview after Aroundtown's nine-month results earlier on Wednesday.

Including the six sites, the company says it has selected 10 assets as initial project sites.

Discussions with developers and potential operators have also started and Aroundtown now expects its first data centre to be operational within three years, saying that is around the time it will take to build the infrastructure.

Some 100 buildings in Aroundtown's portfolio could be suitable for data centres, an initial analysis from an external party found.

"I'm not saying now we will convert 100 buildings, but let's see how much we'll be able to do," Wright said, adding that Aroundtown could build more centres than initially assessed if the German government provided support.

Next steps will include submitting additional power applications, securing higher energy capacity and full permitting, the company said in a call with investors.

(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier and Emanuele Berro in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)