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Goodman Property Trust (GMT) is looking to build large data centres in Auckland with the support of global investors, as part of an ambitious plan for growth.
The property investor and developer was planning to bring its management inside the company as a necessary component of establishing a fund management arm at a cost of $272.4 million.
If approved by unitholders, the restructured company will establish an Auckland-based property fund with an initial $300 million investment, with expectation to grow it to $2 billion within 3-5 years.
GMT chief executive James Spence said Goodman had the scale to attract global investment.
"Alongside what we do at the moment, which is buy, redevelop and build high quality logistics assets. We're also looking at the possibility of data centres in Auckland," he said.
"The characteristics of a data centre are quite similar in shape, size and location as warehouse and logistics spaces.
"We've got about 50 hectares of brownfield, last-mile industrial sites in South Auckland that we're investigating the possibility for data centre development."
Spence said GMT's existing portfolio was of a size and scale to attract global investment.
"One of the things the fund may look to do is buy assets directly from GMT itself. We've got a portfolio of $4.5 billion that's been built over the last 15 to 20 years," he said.
"There are two things that global investors are looking for at the moment - industrial and data centres and we think our portfolio will be pretty attractive to those seeking to invest in the Auckland market. "
