en.Wedoany.com Reported - Recently, Malaysia's Sime Darby Property Berhad launched the New Economy Venture Fund, with a maximum size of 12.5 billion ringgit, approximately $310 million. The fund will invest in custom-built, long-term leased data centers, industrial, and logistics development projects, with the first round of fundraising achieving 100% capital commitments.
The focus of this fund is to connect Malaysia's industrial park land resources, institutional capital, and data center demand. Sime Darby Property will serve as the fund's general partner and initiator, investing 500.1 million ringgit in the first round as a co-investor; participating institutions include the Employees Provident Fund, the Armed Forces Fund Board, and Great Eastern Life Assurance Malaysia. The fund adopts a closed-end, self-investment platform compliant with Islamic financial principles, with a five-year term, aiming to build new economy assets within Sime Darby Property's key townships and industrial parks.
The initial projects have already secured two seed assets, located in Elmina Business Park and City of Elmina, accounting for approximately 85% of the target fund size, and are supported by long-term lease arrangements. Construction of these related assets has commenced and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2027.
Malaysia is becoming a significant destination for data center investment in Southeast Asia. As data center resources in Singapore become increasingly constrained, cloud service providers, AI infrastructure operators, and multinational corporations are beginning to deploy more high-density server rooms, disaster recovery nodes, and regional digital infrastructure in Malaysia. Data center projects require the combined support of land, electricity, network, cooling, and long-term operational capabilities. Traditional real estate developers focusing solely on residential and commercial properties find it difficult to participate in this round of digital infrastructure growth. By introducing institutional capital through a fund structure, Sime Darby Property can convert its township development, industrial parks, and long-term leasing resources into revenue streams from data centers and logistics infrastructure.
This type of investment model has a direct driving effect on the information and communication technology industry chain. Data center construction will drive demand for server room civil engineering, power access, power distribution, backup power, cooling systems, fiber optic connections, network equipment, fire protection and security, cabinet integration, and operation and maintenance services; industrial and logistics assets can synergize with cloud services, e-commerce, manufacturing digitalization, and supply chain management. For Malaysia, the establishment of the data center fund not only increases investment in individual park projects but also helps attract more cloud computing, AI applications, and cross-border digital service enterprises to establish a presence, further strengthening its position in the Southeast Asian digital infrastructure landscape.
Subsequent milestones focus on the construction progress of the two seed assets, the delivery status of long-term lease customers, whether the fund will continue to include more investors, and whether Sime Darby Property can expand into more new economy assets beyond data centers. If the projects proceed smoothly, this fund will help Sime Darby Property further transition from a traditional real estate developer to a digital infrastructure asset manager, and will also provide a new capital organization model for Malaysia's data center construction.
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