Arjun Infrastructure is in the final stages of the process to acquire a stake in part of Brookfield-backed data centre operator Data4, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The deal will involve Arjun Infrastructure, which is being advised by Nomura, acquiring around 30% of the business’ stabilised assets, known as StableCo, the sources said.

As part of the agreement, which is on track to be signed by early March, Brookfield will retain a 30% stake in the StableCo and Data4 will hold 10%, sources added.

The remaining 30% stake in Data4’s operational asset portfolio is still up for grabs, one source said.

Led by Citi, the sale previously attracted attention from a number of infrastructure investors including EDF Invest, CVC DIF, InfraRed Capital Partners, Japanese investor Orix Group, as well as Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Infralogic reported last year.

Stabilised assets are data centres that are fully operational and with occupancy levels of at least 80% and thus have a low risk profile as their revenues are largely contracted. This makes them suitable for investors with a low cost of capital.

In recent years, large data centre operators and investors have opted to separate their mature, income-generating assets from their development, construction assets, placing the former into yieldcos or stablecos and the latter into devcos. This has provided operators with the ability to raise and inject capital into specific parts of their businesses as an alternative route to traditional financing models that may not be sufficient to fund capex requirements.

Brookfield bought Data4 last April for an enterprise value of around EUR 3.5bn, representing a multiple of around 29 times the company’s latest adjusted EBITDA of EUR 120m.

At the end of last year, Data4 signed a new EUR 4bn debt package, including EUR 2.2bn to finance its StableCo and a separate new EUR 1.1bn tranche for its GrowthCo, to fund new projects and acquisitions.

Data4 currently has 35 data centres in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany and Greece with 1 GW of combined capacity, according to its website.

Arjun Infrastructure, Nomura, Brookfield and Citi declined to comment. Data4 did not respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this week, Brookfield, supported by Emmanuel Macron, announced its plan to invest EUR 20bn, mostly via its portfolio company Data4, into data centres in France.