Good morning, thank you for joining us. I'm John McBain, Joint CEO of Centuria. Together with my fellow Joint CEO, Jason Huljich, we have the pleasure in presenting Centuria Capital's strategic partnership with ResetData. Joining us today, we have Simon Holt, our Centuria CFO, and Tim Mitchell, Group Head of Investor Relations. But also, with us are Marcel Zalloua and Bass Salah, Joint CEOs of ResetData. On behalf of Jason, myself, and our team, we welcome Marcel, Bass, and the ResetData team to the Centuria team, as we outline what's an exciting real estate-based opportunity for the group. Earlier this morning, Centuria made an ASX platform announcement regarding an investment in ResetData. Today's announcement marks Centuria's early mover entry to the data center opportunity set, which our team will explain in more details.
Starting on Slide 2, the ResetData initiative is the culmination of careful planning and an innovative approach to the rapidly evolving data center opportunity. Centuria has acquired a 50% stake in ResetData to provide next generation, sustainable cloud service technology through liquid immersion cooling, often referred to as LIC, and these are bespoke data centers. The stake is being acquired for a consideration of up to AUD 21 million and is funded within Centuria's existing debt headroom. The investment is expected to be earnings neutral for the group in FY 2025, however, accretive from FY 2026 onwards. Centuria has a call option from the end of year 5 to acquire the outstanding 50% interest in ResetData.
This opportunity will align Centuria to the strong, growing data center sector at a time when traditional data centers and AI are commanding global focus, but also at a time when Australia cannot deliver data centers at a rate to match forecast future demand. It's also becoming increasingly obvious that traditional data center technology, energy efficiency, and sustainability gains have peaked. Moving to Slide 3. Centuria's early mover advantage into liquid cooled immersion edge data center integrates a dual PropCo and OpCo strategy for addressing this opportunity. The PropCo component of the investment initiative enables us to generate higher rents from underutilized real estate space, which Centuria property funds can access, along with utilizing untapped power for deployment as, as liquid immersion cooled data centers within portfolio assets, particularly office assets. Jason will provide more detail regarding this shortly.
Turning to the OpCo component, ResetData relies on proprietary liquid immersion cooling data center technology, which enables a smaller size footprint than traditional data centers, less energy consumption than those using air-cooled servers, and therefore, a reduced carbon footprint. This technology is coupled with the ability to offer full cloud computing services to their clients. Slide 4. We believe that this carefully considered strategy will create a new first-mover business segment for security holders and differentiates CNI funds platform at an OpCo level. ResetData is positioned to provide low-cost and viable alternative to traditional off-site data warehousing solutions. ResetData aims to offer high-density storage and processing with low latency to tenants in our properties, as well as surrounding enterprises that can benefit from an innovative data center offering. Before finishing, I'd like to touch on Centuria's corporate acquisition strategy.
This strategy actively seeks real estate-based market opportunities which are scalable and create new revenue streams for the group. It also provides security holders with access to an opportunity which has strong market tailwinds to a high-quality management team and a new business line with a limited competition set. Now, this echoes past investments in other sectors we've made, such as our entry to real estate private credit in 2021 with Centuria Bass Credit, and our entry to the healthcare real estate sector in 2019 with Heathley. I will now hand over to Jason.
Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to build on John's comments regarding today's announcement and explain how Centuria is innovatively approaching the data center sector by positioning ourselves at the forefront of bringing liquid immersion cooled data centers to Australia's enterprises. Turning to Slide 6. As John mentioned earlier, Centuria is implementing a dual PropCo and OpCo approach to delivering edge data centers. A critical consideration for entering the ResetData investment is the value creation potential we see across our direct and listed real estate portfolios, with over 400 properties and 2,500 tenants. Through the use of proprietary liquid immersion cooling technology, Centuria and ResetData can create small footprint edge data centers that consume less energy than traditional air-cooled data centers.
Implement edge data centers in space, such as commercial office, retrofit industrial, or alternative property sectors, where the utilization of the real estate space and availability of required power provides such opportunities. Support growing artificial intelligence inferencing, gaming demand, and Internet of Things, enabling lower latency cloud servicing and efficient data center solutions with Centuria's tenants and nearby enterprises who seek alternative solutions to air-cooled or traditional data centers that are not purpose. Centuria and ResetData's proposition is designed to attract new tenants, retain existing tenants, create new revenue and rental streams across Centuria's real estate funds, while creating potential for improved property valuations. Turning to slide seven, which illustrates the symbiotic relationship between the PropCo and Opco strategies, each required a unique value chain to deliver Centuria's edge data center ecosystem.
Having just outlined aspects of the PropCo strategy, you can also see how these features enable ResetData to be located at underutilized real estate spaces, office buildings, rather than out-of-city warehouses, delivering low connectivity latency to users. With its bespoke hardware stack and proprietary cloud platform, ResetData has also cultivated partnerships with Dell, NVIDIA, Submer, and Unicom Engineering to provide original equipment manufacturer, OEM, capabilities for liquid immersion cooling technology. Moving to slide 8. The application of our PropCo and OpCo strategy provides Centuria an early mover advantage for building Australia's edge infrastructure network. The group investment in ResetData enables Centuria to unlock value from its strategically located and underutilized assets, establishing a network of edge data centers that can service tenants as well as other businesses in proximity.
The technological innovation from liquid immersion cooling, coupled with ResetData's bespoke hardware stack and proprietary cloud platform, creates a compelling opportunity to roll out edge data centers and properties across our platform. As you can see, edge data centers are highly efficient and can offer a viable alternative to traditional air-cooled data centers. A typical pod in the edge data center will measure just 2.4 sq m , meaning around 7 pods could potentially provide Centuria's tenants and surrounding business enterprises with around 1 MW of data capability and approximately 60 sq m of lettable space . Slide 10. It is our view that this innovative approach will provide higher and better use for some properties across our real estate platform. A perfect example of this is 818 Bourke Street, Docklands, which is a Centuria-managed property via the Centuria Office REIT.
As part of today's announcement, ResetData has entered into a 10-year lease for a data center of up to 1.5 MW at 818 Bourke Street. This presents us with the opportunity to deliver one of Australia's first enterprise AI inferencing and ultra-high-density liquid-cooled data centers. The establishment of this data center would involve repurposing existing infrastructure within the property, provide new rental sources, minimize leasing downtime, and potentially create a property valuation uplift of between 10% -1 5% net of costs. We will endeavor to keep investors updated on the progress of this initiative in due course. That concludes today's formal presentation. I'll now hand back to the operator to commence Q&A.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. A reminder to please limit yourself to two questions per person. Your first question comes from Simon Chan with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, John, Jason, and everyone. Just important to start with, this technology that you've bought, I guess, with ResetData, can you just confirm, does ResetData own the technology or is it more of a distributor of the technology, you know, exclusively in Australia and NZ?
ResetData owns the technology stack, and we've actually developed the infrastructure stack and hardware stack alongside those partners, but we own our own IP in terms of our infrastructure as a service provision.
The actual tubs come out of a company called Submer in Spain, which ResetData hold the license for in Australia and New Zealand.
Is it like a long-term license, that there's no, you know, near-term or medium-term negotiations that could complicate things?
Look, it's the length of the license is-
Four years.
- four years. But I think the main thing with this is not just that technology, it's also the whole infrastructure stack that the Reset guys have put together and all their partnerships with a lot of the operators in that space.
Very good. So my next question: hey, John, in your, I think, opening remarks, you mentioned that the deal is gonna be earnings neutral to FY 2025, and you're expecting to be accretive in FY 2026. What sort of growth are you assuming in ResetData for you to make these comments? Like, are there things in the pipeline that are pretty much locked in, et cetera? Yeah, can you just talk a bit about that delta between 2025 and 2026 in ResetData?
... Probably like Simon might be the best to make time. We're being quite conservative in our outlook. You know, it's better to give the company time to get its feet on the ground. But we are expecting-
Well, I think, we're expecting to see the growth, and it's really a sales and earnings on earnings model. So, part of the amount of money that we're putting in is working capital to build out a stronger sales team or a larger sales team. And as a result of that, it's our ability to generate new sales, and those sales are sticky and then go and get the new sales on top of that. And so the acceleration happens quite quickly from a very small base in that regard. So, in terms of 2025, you know, we're also taking into account the cost of debt and funding expectations and the impact that has on the business overall. And so-
I think as 818 comes online, that's what flows through into the profitability that makes it accretive in future years. And then obviously, we'd be looking at other assets to add into the portfolio. And, you know, we've looked at a number of our assets that have excess power capability, which capacity, which we'll be able to roll more of these out over time.
That sounds good. Look forward to it. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Tom Bodor with UBS. Please go ahead.
Good morning, all. I'd just be interested in just sort of zeroing in on those comments around revenue being a result of sales. Can you just talk to how revenue comes into Centuria from this business? Like, what is the—is it a rent or is it a, you know, sales commission, or how do we think about that revenue piece?
Look, the best way to describe it is ResetData is, in essence, a cloud services provider. There are obviously other elements to that, but the easiest way to explain it is, in essence, you're selling space inside a cloud solution in on servers. And then in essence, they are paying- ResetData are paying rent to the likes of a COF or 818 Bourke Street. And it's the profitability of selling that as a cloud services offering to call them tenants, but clients, let's call them clients. And then there are other elements to that around colocation offerings, as well as the actual infrastructure as a direct offering rather than through a cloud services offering. So there's a kind of a three-pronged approach to it.
So, for a REIT, Tom, it'll be seen as rent in space that would otherwise not be producing, potentially not be producing rent, and at a rent which is pitched on a different basis and higher to traditional office rent. And then, on a corporate basis, it'll be a dividend from a business. So if you look at... That's why we've described it as OpCo, PropCo. So if you look at private credit, for example, we first invested in private credit. It produces a product, call that the PropCo, if you like, but a fund for our investors. But in terms of the OpCo, our investment in Centuria Bass Credit, now you'll see the numbers shortly. You know, it's going to be a significant component of Centuria's earnings that would not have otherwise been there.
In the same way, we're that convinced that this technology will spread very quickly, and we can talk about that in a moment, why we believe that. That simply spreading it through our portfolio, yes, would give our REITs an effective advantage-
Mm-hmm.
in our unlisted properties. But we think that just exactly the same way as Centuria Data, I think if we offer our our new partners, support with systems, access to our, portfolios, our balance sheet, where it's required, you know, you can look at it, it's very, it's very simple from people to see private credit, Bass, I think, had a book of AUD 230 million when we got involved in it, 2.5 years ago. Now, it's got a book of AUD 2 billion. It's not an accident. It was strategic, it was strategic consideration at the time, and it's been the, the, there's been a quotient of a lot of hard work and application of, of our balance sheet where required.
We believe, although these two businesses are not similar in terms of technology or the product they offer, our philosophy in terms of why we would invest them at a group level is precisely the same. That's how excited we are about the opportunity.
From a, say, COF perspective, at 818 Bourke Street, is it right to think that this is essentially a lease over 90 sq m to get the 1.5 MW that you're getting at a premium rent to what you would otherwise get?
That's right. It's actually in a larger space because where Reset will be going into is a disused small data center that was an existing tenant's data center on premise that they moved out of. So they're just taking over the whole facility, which is about 600 m. And that will be a 10-year lease over that space, basically.
As Jason said during his presentation, you know, that's a 10%-15% valuation advantage over an asset like that. Now, you know, we're not flooded with good news about the office market at the moment. I think we all acknowledge that. So as soon as numbers like that start coming across our desk, we start looking at it very, very closely. And then when we look at how we think this technology is going to spread-
... The PropCo side of it is interesting to the point of fascinating, but then the OpCo side becomes extremely interesting to us at a group level.
Okay, great. And just one more quick one, if I may. Are ResetData staff taking any Centuria stock, and is there any opportunity to, you know, fund product in this space?
The ResetData team obviously own half the business of the ResetData business. They don't have Centuria stock. And there, obviously, as we've mentioned, is earn-outs in here that is purely based on profitability of ResetData over the next three years. So, you know, that's what they're gonna be focused on. And on the fund side, look, I think there is. I think, you know, we have quite a few of our institutional investors have raised funds for investments into that data center space. So we think if we do scale up and some of the larger opportunities that we've sort of looked at, there could be potential to probably put an institutional fund around it as well.
Probably just a good time to just talk, perhaps Marcel or Bass can comment. One of the issues that we uncovered during due diligence was, you know, ResetData has a strong relationship with NVIDIA, as it has with Dell, for example, it gives warranty out of their own OEM equipment in a liquid-cooled environment. The traditional data centers are air-cooled, and what the NVIDIA people told us was that when they're designing chips from now into the future, they're designing chips that aren't capable of being cooled in an air-cooled environment. But maybe Marcel or Bass, just amplify that point, 'cause I think that's absolutely crucial to us. We could not believe that was the case.
Yeah. So what we've seen over the last three years is essentially a doubling every year of the actual GPU or chipsets in terms of heat output. And that heat output is no longer being able to cool through traditional air cooling. Liquid immersion cooling is seen as the solution to that problem, but it also provides significant density, so we can build with a lot less CapEx.
Okay, thanks for that.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Ben Brayshaw with Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Morning, John, Jason. Thanks for the presentation. I was wondering if you could expand a little bit more on the history of Reset. Is there anything you could also share with us in relation to, you know, track record, how long the business has been operating and, you know, how many refits has it been able to carry out, to date?
Sure. Look, I'll hand over to Bass just to talk that through the business.
Thanks, Marcel.
We started in 2020. They've got two small facilities so far, but I'll hand over to you guys for the details on that.
Yeah. So we've got two facilities currently operational. One's at in Macquarie Park, which is a 300 kW center, and we've also got a real working example of a underutilized space in a commercial building at 151 Clarence Street, which currently has capacity of 150 kW. So they've both been delivered and are operational.
Okay. And are you able to just comment on typically, what are the capital costs involved in, you know, putting in place this technology? And what are your expectations for the life cycle of the plant and equipment?
So the life cycle of the plant and equipment, generally, from the CapEx side of it, it's 15 years. In terms of the cost-
It, it really depends on the asset and what's required for it. If you look at, for example, 818 Bourke Street, there's a cost of about AUD 13 million-AUD 14 million to set this data center up. And that's obviously, that's infrastructure around uninterrupted power supply, generators, things like that, is a, you know, big chunk of the cost.
Great.
They're a bit different, Ben, just John, to traditional air-cooled centers which use water cooling towers. One of the issues that's really coming to bear on where you can build a traditional center is water consumption. This technology has no waste water.
I mean, it's-
Yeah.
I'll just jump in there. The sustainability story around this is utilizing existing space and minimizing the amount of the carbon footprint or even the amount of building materials it takes to create new. Utilizing existing spaces is quite significant in terms of being able to bring this technology to smaller spaces, utilize existing infrastructure and saving the costs of, you know, creating net new.
There's a lot more-
Yeah. Sorry, guys.
Sorry.
Just final question. Are there any specific characteristics that you're looking for to roll this out at the asset level, or it could be applied to, you know, any office building?
Yeah, look, the big thing, as we all know, it comes down to power capacity.
... So we've been going through the portfolio and looking at where we have capacity, or we think we can get further capacity. So in terms of, you know, you can put a very small, say, a 100 kW site together with basically one tub, so it doesn't take up much space at all, and doesn't need much power. If you want to go larger, up until that 1.5-2, then you need that capacity. So we've gone through a big chunk of our portfolio, just working out where our focus will be for the priority locations. But 818 will kick it off, and then we've got sort of a list that we want to get to after that.
Great. Thanks, Tim. Bye.
Yeah. So, Ben, I think just, slides 13 to 15 are could probably answer some of your questions just in regards to some of the, the benefits and reasons why, liquid cooling over air cooling is, from a ESG perspective, but also from a cost perspective. I mean, we are looking at the cost to an end user client of ResetData to be potentially up to 40% cheaper, than your traditional, buying a cloud computing service. And there's a few other statistical information on page 15.
Great. Thanks, Simon.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Solomon Zhang with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Just wanted to double check, I guess, my understanding of the business model. So there are two components. So do you provide data center space for enterprises to sort of bring in their own hardware, so competing with an NextDC? And also providing cloud services, so sort of competing with the likes of AWS?
Yes, yes, that's right. So it's both co-location services and infrastructure as a service. The fundamental difference here is we'll be the first co-location provider in liquid immersion cooling. So it's, you know, NextDC is built predominantly on air cooling.
I think the opportunity set, the opportunity set here, Solomon, is to do it inside our offices, near our tenants, particularly as AI starts to take off at the enterprise level, as opposed to the ... Let's call it the hyperscaler conversation. Enterprises will want to be able to see that data and see the responses back in almost real time. And so being able to have that close to where your employees in an enterprise are, and allow that for AI to play out with these high density centers, that's really the opportunity set that we're looking at, and mitigating or reducing latency significantly.
So we think there are some industries that will insist on having lower latency, and this is one of the main advances, because this, this technology will be very close to the user. And anyone, also, those users, any of those users who are concerned about their carbon footprint, which is probably 90% of them, on any view of looking at alternative storage technology, I mean, it would be very stark in relation to where the footprint is. This is approximately half the footprint, at half the cost.
Right.
Just an interesting statistic is, in liquid immersion, the server, what they basically do is you take a server that you'd normally buy for an air-cooled server, and the first thing that's actually done is you take out the fans out of that server to immerse it into the liquid. And the outcome of that alone is a 10% saving on energy costs.
Mm.
So there's other benefits. I'm just giving you a specific example of the first thing that actually happens in terms of saving money, and there's a number of different outcomes that come out as a result. But around the ability to cool and not having to cool as far down from a room temperature rather than a cooling temperature right at the chip.
Yep. Maybe just the next question. Can you just walk us through, I guess, the current financials of the business and how they've tracked over time? So any color on revenue, margins, profitability?
Sorry, Simon. I think at the moment where we're focused on is putting working capital into helping this business grow around sales, in particular around building that sales opportunity with what is existing on the back of 818 Bourke Street. And we believe that that can be an exponential growth. And we think that, obviously, it's going to be accretive to earnings for FY 26, is the statement that we've made today.
Yep. So it sort of implies maybe a multiple of 15x, assuming a cost of debt of 6% for 2025. Would that be about right?
I'd have to come back to you on that one.
Right. And maybe just finally, just on the order book, any color you can provide on, you know, the size of that relative to current customers that you have in hand?
Look, the challenge with this is that most of the customers have to remain confidential, but what I can say is that we've actually got a large telco negotiation happening, a very large facility provider that we're negotiating currently as well, some government opportunity, which we'll see a significantly scale, as well as SME across the marketplace.
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. McBain for closing remarks.
Thanks very much for making time to join available for today. I know it was relatively short notice, but I know there's another cast at midday, which Tim will give you details of, and I really appreciate your feedback today.