Principal Real Estate reached the final investor close on April 30 for its first closed-end fund dedicated to developing and acquiring data centers in the United States. The fund was oversubscribed, raising $533 million from investors globally.
A total of 15 limited partners committed to the Principal Digital Real Estate Fund. The diverse group of investors included public and corporate pension funds, insurance companies, wealth managers, endowments, and foundations from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
The Principal Digital Real Estate Fund will focus on value-add acquisitions, the redevelopment of existing data centers that can be acquired at or below replacement cost, and the development of high-quality, state-of-the-art data center facilities on a ready-to-fit or turnkey basis. Geographically, capital will be dispensed across the primary U.S. data center markets, including Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix, Northern Virginia, and Northern California, in addition to select secondary markets such as the Pacific Northwest, Atlanta, Austin/San Antonio, Southern California, and the Northeast.
Principal Real Estate began investing in data centers in 2007 and has since committed over $1 billion in data center acquisitions and developments while also owning more than $1.1 billion in data center REITs[1].
About Principal Real Estate
Principal Real Estate is the dedicated real estate group of Principal Global Investors, a diversified asset management organization and a member of the Principal Financial Group®. The firm manages or sub-advises $90.3 billion in commercial real estate assets (as of March 31, 2021). The capabilities of Principal Real Estate include both public and private equity and debt investment alternatives.