Keppel DC Reit to join STI from June 23; units rise 0.9%
Loh Hwee Long, CEO of Keppel DC Reit Management, says the Reit saw overall valuation gains in 2024, especially from its Singapore colocation assets. PHOTO: THE BUSINESS TIMES
SINGAPORE - Following the Straits Times Index's (STI) June quarterly review, Keppel DC Reit will be entering the index, replacing Jardine Cycle & Carriage, effective from June 23.
This increases the total number of S-Reits in the index to eight.
The eight S-Reits in the STI will be: CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust.
Keppel DC Reit units rose 0.9 per cent, or two cents, to $2.26 as at 9.08am on June 9, after the announcement.
With a market cap of $4.9 billion, it re-enters the STI after exiting in June 2023, and is expected to increase S-Reits' combined weight in the index to over 10 per cent.
The Reit, Asia's first pure-play data centre Reit, listed in 2014 with eight data centres and $1 billion in assets under management (AUM). Today, it owns 24 data centres across 10 countries, with an AUM of $4.9 billion. Of this, 81.6 per cent is in Asia-Pacific (66.3 per cent in Singapore) and 18.4 per cent in Europe.
Keppel DC Reit's Q1 2025 results showed a 59.4 per cent year-on-year increase in distributable income, with gross revenue and net property income (NPI) growing by 22.6 per cent and 24.1 per cent, respectively. Its distribution per unit rose by 14.2 per cent to 2.503 for the quarter.
This was driven by acquisitions of Keppel DC Singapore 7 & 8, Tokyo Data Centre 1, and higher contributions from contract renewals and escalations in 2024. Portfolio rental reversion was 7 per cent, with no major renewals in the first quarter of 2025, and portfolio occupancy remained at 96.5 per cent as at March 31.
Loh Hwee Long, chief executive officer of Keppel DC Reit Management, noted at Reit's annual general meeting that it saw overall valuation gains in 2024, especially from its Singapore colocation assets. Most European assets also recorded local currency gains despite some softness in smaller data centres, reinforcing the strength of its diversified, value-focused portfolio.
The Reit has been actively acquiring assets. In 2024, it entered Japan as a new market with the acquisition of Tokyo Data Centre 1, and also completed the acquisition of two AI-ready hyperscale data centres in Singapore from its sponsor, Keppel, which marked its largest deal exceeding $1 billion since listing.
According to its annual report, the Reit's sponsor, Keppel, plans to expand its data centre portfolio to a total of 1.2 gigawatt in the near term, which could provide a pipeline of assets for Keppel DC Reit to potentially acquire.
For its financial year 2024, the Reit recorded 15.5 per cent year-on-year decrease in total greenhouse gas emissions and has achieved the GRESB Green Star for a third consecutive year, with six of its assets in Singapore and Dublin maintaining green certifications.
In trading this year, Keppel DC Reit has ranked among the top 20 stocks by trading turnover and among the top five most actively traded S-Reits.
The STI reserve list, which consists of the five highest ranking non-constituents of the STI, will be (in alphabetical order): CapitaLand Ascott Trust, ComfortDelGro, Keppel Reit, NetLink NBN Trust and Suntec Reit. THE BUSINESS TIMES
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