European private capital firms are launching more than €17bn worth of data centre sales as the global artificial intelligence surge drives investor demand for digital infrastructure, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Oaktree Capital Management has started a process to sell part of its European and Middle Eastern data centre platform, Pure DC, which is valued at up to €5bn. Swiss investor Partners Group is also exploring a sale of Nordic data centre operator atNorth, seeking as much as €4bn.

Swedish buyout firm EQT has already launched the sale of GlobalConnect, its Nordic broadband and data centre business, in a process that could value the company at around €8bn.

Other European players are also looking to monetise their assets. Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm DWS is seeking roughly €2bn from the sale of its NorthC data centre unit, while telecoms group Orange is preparing to sell stakes in several French facilities.

The flurry of transactions comes as investors chase long-term contracted revenues and the sector’s growing role in supporting AI and cloud expansion. “Some of these platforms are outgrowing their existing owners and new investors with deeper pockets are stepping in to fund their multibillion cloud and AI infrastructure pipelines,” said Burkhard Koep, Head of Media and Telecoms for EMEA at JPMorgan.

According to Synergy Research Group, 162 data centre-related mergers and acquisitions worth $46bn have already closed this year, with an additional 45 deals worth $35bn pending. The firm’s Chief Analyst, John Dinsdale, said the market could match last year’s record of $77bn in deal value, citing “an insatiable appetite for data centre capacity” and “the inability of current operators to fund those investments internally.”

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