Investment firm Columbia Threadneedle has acquired a small data center portfolio in the UK.

First reported by Green Street News, the company told DCD it has “acquired three data center investments – Normanton, Wakefield, and Derby.”

Matthew Howard, fund manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said: “The portfolio was acquired for an institutional client account. We consider this a good point in the cycle to recycle capital into growth assets where we see value.”

DCD has reached out for further information.

UK MSP Node4, owned by Providence Equity Partners, operates data centers in the Normanton area of Wakefield as well as Derby.

Node4’s Wakefield data center opened in 2009 and can offer capacity for up to 450 racks across 26,000 sq ft (2,415 sqm). Its Derby site launched in 2004 and offers capacity for 330 racks across 16,000 sq ft (1,486 sqm). The company also operates a site in Northampton that offers 800 racks in three data halls across 41,000 sq ft (3,809 sqm).

Nlighten, the regional Edge unit of I Squared Capital, also operates a site in Normanton, as does UK bank HSBC. MSP CenterServ operates a site in Wakefield. Hosting firm Grid Hosting is one of the few companies, other than Node4, to operate a data center in Derby.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global asset management group of US financial services provider Ameriprise Financial and handles around £373 billion ($503bn) of assets.

The company took a majority stake in Norwegian data center firm Lefdal Mine Datacenter in 2020 via its European Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (ESIF). Terms were not shared, but ESIF acquired its stake from Rittal, as well as from a consortium of local shareholders.

Built in a disused olivine mine, Lefdal Mine has the potential of being Europe’s largest data center – with 75 underground halls and the ability to scale to 200MW of IT load, all cooled by the adjacent fjord.