Sydney, Australia - December 23, 2025 - Australia’s Goodman Group saw its shares jump sharply on Tuesday after the logistics and industrial property giant announced a AUD 14 billion (USD 9.3 billion) partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to develop a major portfolio of data centres across Europe.
Goodman said the 50-50 partnership will focus on building and operating large-scale data centre campuses in key European markets, including Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris, as demand from cloud and artificial intelligence workloads accelerates. The announcement pushed Goodman’s stock up as much as 7-8% in early trading, making it one of the strongest performers on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Under the agreement, the partners will develop four data centre projects with a combined 435 megawatts of primary power capacity, translating to approximately 282 megawatts of IT load. The projects will be delivered on sites already controlled by Goodman, reducing development risk and shortening timelines in some of Europe’s most supply-constrained data centre markets.
Goodman chief executive Greg Goodman said the transaction reflects a structural shift in the company’s portfolio. “Demand for digital infrastructure continues to accelerate, particularly in major European cities where land, power and planning approvals are increasingly scarce,” he said. “This partnership allows us to scale our data centre platform while recycling capital and maintaining balance sheet discipline.”
For CPPIB, the deal marks its first dedicated European data centre platform. The Canadian pension fund has increased its exposure to digital infrastructure globally, citing long-term demand visibility and inflation-linked cash flows. CPPIB said Europe’s data centre market remains structurally undersupplied, particularly for facilities capable of supporting high-density and AI-driven workloads.
Construction on the first projects is expected to begin by mid-2026, with development phased over several years. Goodman will act as development manager, leveraging its local planning and construction expertise, while CPPIB will provide long-term capital backing.
The transaction highlights intensifying competition for data centre assets across Europe, where grid constraints, permitting delays and sustainability requirements have slowed new supply. Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris are among the most tightly balanced markets, with hyperscalers and colocation providers competing for limited expansion capacity.
Analysts said the market reaction reflects investor confidence in Goodman’s strategy of pivoting from traditional logistics assets toward higher-growth digital infrastructure. Data centres now account for an increasing share of Goodman’s development pipeline, supported by long-term customer demand and strong pricing fundamentals.
As AI adoption drives larger and more power-intensive deployments, the partnership underscores how institutional capital is converging with real estate developers to secure scarce European data centre capacity.
For Goodman, the deal positions the group as one of the most significant data centre developers in the region, while providing shareholders with exposure to one of the fastest-growing segments of global infrastructure.
