Infrastructure investors including Ardian and Igneo Infrastructure Partners have submitted initial offers for Macquarie’s 75% stake in a Dutch hyperscale data centre co-owned with Japan’s NTT, according to sources.

Ardian, advised by RBC, and Igneo advised by DC Advisory, submitted first round bids for the data centre on 30 October, sources said.

Singapore-headquartered real estate investor Mapletree Investments also submitted an offer for the Amsterdam-based data centre, which has a total capacity of over 60 MW, two of the sources added.

One source added that there is at least one other party that submitted a bid for Macquarie’s stake.

Another source told Infralogic that phase two of the sale process, that is being led by Nomura and Macquarie, will take between six and eight weeks, with binding offers due in December.

One source told Infralogic that Equitix, Orix, Mubadala, CapitaLand, InfraRed Capital Partners and CVC DIF are also interested, while it is unclear if any of these investors submitted a bid.

The sale is the second time Macquarie has tried to sell its interest in the company, following an attempted sale in early 2024 with JLL as sellside advisor.

Macquarie and Japanese telecoms company NTT set up the joint venture in 2022 to support the latter’s expansion across Europe and North America.

The partnership was agreed via Macquarie Asset Management’s real estate arm but the Amsterdam data centre is 75% owned by Macquarie Capital, the unit that invests capital from Macquarie’s own balance sheet rather than through managed funds, according to an announcement at the time.

Macquarie has expanded its presence in the data centre sector in recent years. The Australian investor owns a minority stake in London-based VIRTUS and Brussels-based European data centre developer KevlinX, alongside Belgian investment firm PMV.

Nomura, Igneo, Ardian, DC Advisory, Equitix and Orix declined to comment. Macquarie, NTT, RBC, Mapletree, Mubadala, CVC DIF, InfraRed and CapitaLand did not respond to requests for comment.