Brookfield Finalises $9B AI Computing Deal With Naver; Koramco REIT Buys Seoul Warehouse

Brookfield has finalised a deal to fund up to $9 billion in AI computing infrastructure for South Korea's Naver. Separately, Koramco Life Infrastructure REIT is buying a logistics centre in Anyang for $202.1 million, and NextDC met its debt covenants with an 8.2 per cent gearing ratio.

North American investment manager Brookfield has finalised a deal to fund up to $9 billion in AI computing infrastructure for South Korea's Naver, according to a regulatory filing. A Brookfield vehicle will buy the chips and data centres, and Naver Cloud will pay fees to use them. The deal funds the $10 billion “AI factory” Naver launched with Brookfield and Nvidia in July. Nvidia also plans to buy $1 billion in new Naver shares, which would make it Naver's third-largest shareholder.

South Korea's Koramco Life Infrastructure REIT will buy a logistics centre in Anyang, near Seoul, for KRW 270 billion ($202.1 million). The price is about 20 per cent below an April appraisal. The warehouse covers 95,475 square metres (1 million square feet) and is 99.3 per cent leased, mainly to Coupang. A Koramco Asset Trust vehicle is the seller. Loans fund KRW 198 billion of the price.

Australia's NextDC met both its debt covenants at 30 June, the data centre operator said. Its gearing ratio was 8.2 per cent, against a 60 per cent maximum. NextDC held A$8.7 billion ($6.1 billion) in liquidity at the end of September. The update follows last week’s warning of grid power delays at its M3 Melbourne data centre.

Singapore-based STTGDC has secured a JPY 93 billion ($589 million) green loan to fit out and run its two-building data centre campus in Inzai City, near Tokyo. The campus at Goodman Business Park will provide 70.8 megawatts of IT capacity. Standard Chartered led the financing alongside Mizuho Bank, OCBC, Societe Generale and UOB.

Singapore-listed Keppel REIT increased distributable income from operations by 24.4 per cent year-on-year in the nine months to 30 September. Property income rose 16.5 per cent, mainly due to Top Ryde City Shopping Centre in Sydney. Portfolio occupancy stood at 96 per cent, with rental reversions of 12 per cent. Singapore's Keppel has also signed a framework agreement with US-based Apollo to pursue private capital deals of $500 million and above for Asia Pacific corporates and asset owners.

Singapore's CapitaLand Ascott Trust posted a 4 per cent year-on-year rise in same-store operating performance for the third quarter. US hotel revenue per available unit rose 12 per cent to $289, helped by the World Cup. Singapore-listed UI Boustead REIT will distribute S$50.9 million ($35.8 million) to unitholders in its first results since listing in March, beating its IPO forecast by 0.8 per cent.