Principal Asset Management has acquired a data center complex in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The investment firm this week announced it had acquired the 36,430 sqm (392,129 sq ft) Connecta Park complex. Terms of the deal were not shared.

The site is let to a number of tenants, including Digital Realty, Colt, Pluserver, Comtrance, 1&1 Versatel, Telia, Vodafone, and Zayo. The site is also home to the DE-CIX and ECIX (Megaport) Internet exchanges.

Digital Realty operates its DUS1, 2, and 3 facilities out of the complex, at In der Steele 25-45; in total, the company’s footprint at the complex spans 11,100 sqm (119,000 sq ft).

German real estate firm Aroundtown was previously the owner of the Connecta Park. The firm recently announced plans to move further into data center development. Aroundtown is yet to comment on the news.

Connecta Park is the sixth asset to be acquired for Principal European Data Centre Fund I. The fund, which raised €297 million ($339.2m) from 14 investors, is focused on manage-to-core data center assets and has acquired five assets in Barcelona, the UK, Amsterdam, Dublin, and Frankfurt.

The fund originally closed in February 2022, raising €155 million ($175.8m) and beating its initial target. It reached its final close in October 2023.

Paul Lewis, managing director European data centers at Principal Asset Management, said: “The acquisition of this key data centre hub in Düsseldorf marks a strategic addition to Principal European Data Centre Fund I, further strengthening our presence in key European digital infrastructure markets.”

He continued: “North Rhine-Westphalia is experiencing increased demand from hyperscalers and this asset, offering access to a broad range of fibre networks and strong connectivity to the Nordics, Amsterdam, Berlin and Frankfurt, is well positioned to benefit from that trend. With a high-quality tenant mix and significant technical capability, we believe this asset will continue to attract strong occupier interest as demand accelerates.”

Principal’s data center fund acquired two facilities in Ireland in 2023. The company paid €10 million ($10.74m) to acquire the Dublin buildings, leased to Verizon and Vodafone. The same year, the company took over a Digital Realty-leased facility in Frankfurt from an unnamed real estate fund based in Luxembourg for €19 million ($20.6m).

2022 saw Principal acquire an Atlas Edge-occupied facility in Barcelona, Spain, as well as a Getronics-occupied data center in Cheshire, UK.

In the Netherlands, the company has also previously announced plans to acquire and convert a logistics facility in Amsterdam into a 42MW data center for Dutch operator Switch Datacenters.

Principal Asset Management is the global investment solutions business for Principal Financial Group, managing $559.1bn in assets, with more than $100bn in real estate assets globally. The company this year closed another $3.64 billion dedicated data center investment fund, which will partner with Stream for hyperscale developments in the US.