Malaysia: Axis-REIT sells former steel site in Johor to unnamed data center operator

Malaysian firm Axis Real Estate Investment Trust (Axis-REIT) announced this week that it has sold a former steel complex in Johor to a data center operator in a deal valued at RM162 million ($33.9m) and is set to close in the second half of the year.

The buyer wasn’t named, but the terms of the sale include the unnamed data center gaining an agreement with local energy firm Tenaga Nasional by the end of August 2024 for the supply of energy to a planned data center on the site.

“The manager believes that in the nine years of owning this property, it has maximized the income-generating potential of this asset and there is limited upside for future rental growth in its current capacity as a manufacturing facility,” Axis-REIT said.

“Given the favorable price of this asset sale and leveraging on the best and highest use of the property as a data center development, this is an opportune time to dispose of the property and to redeploy the capital towards potential yield-accretive properties.”