HMC Capital, led by David Di Pilla, has announced the launch of DigiCo REIT, Australia's largest public company listing in years, which will begin trading on December 12, 2024, with a market capitalisation of $2.74 billion.

The DigiCo REIT will focus on digital infrastructure, supported by a robust A$2.75 billion ($1.79 billion) initial public offering that was revealed on November 20, 2024.

Due to overwhelming interest from institutional and retail investors, the IPO was oversubscribed, prompting an increase of A$100 million in capitalisation.

Di Pilla emphasized that the strong demand for the IPO reflects the high quality of the underlying assets and the rising investor interest in the digital sector.

DigiCo REIT will manage a portfolio of A$4.3 billion in data center assets located in both the U.S. and Australia.

The initial portfolio of DigiCo REIT will consist of 13 assets, which includes recent acquisitions of Global Switch Australia for $1.9 billion and iseek for $400 million.

Following the listing, HMC Capital's total assets under management are projected to increase by 73% in 2024, reaching approximately A$17.5 billion.

HMC Capital will retain an 18% stake in DigiCo REIT, which is valued at around A$500 million.

The growing demand for AI applications, such as ChatGPT, is positively impacting tech giants and property firms that manage data centers, which require significant energy resources.

Morgan Stanley has revised its forecast for energy consumption in Australian data centers, predicting an increase to 3,200 megawatts by 2030, which would account for 8% of the nation's total electricity generation.

Di Pilla also sees substantial growth opportunities in the U.S. market, which he believes could be ten times larger than any other market globally.

The recent sale of AirTrunk's data center business to Blackstone for $23.5 billion underscores the increasing value of the data center sector.