Good morning, everyone, and thank you for dialing in to Keppel DC REIT Second Half and Full Year 2025 Results Webcast. I'm Renee from the Investor Relations team. Let me introduce the management team on the call. We have CEO Mr. Loh Hwee Long, and CFO Mr. Adam Lee, and Head of Portfolio Management Ms. Charmaine Cai. We will start with an overview of our financial and operational performance, followed by the question-and-answer session. For analysts on Teams, please keep your mics muted throughout the presentation. I'll now hand the time to Loh.
Thanks, Renee. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us today. I think going on to the next slide, I shall start off with sharing on the key highlights for Keppel DC REIT in 2025. Overall, I think 2025 was a milestone year for Keppel DC REIT. Through disciplined execution and proactive portfolio management, we delivered record distribution per unit of SGD 10.381. This is up 9.8% year-on-year. This is the highest since our listing in 2014. Distributable income rose 55.2% year-on-year to SGD 268.1 million. This robust financial performance was driven by our accretive acquisitions as well as strong portfolio performance. Our assets under management rose to about SGD 6.3 billion, and this is supported by acquisitions and higher valuations. Portfolio reversion for financial year 2025 was about 45%. This reflects the resilient demand for our assets in the markets that we operate in.
Our cost of debt improved to 3% as at December 31st, 2025. Aggregate leverage remained healthy at 35.3%, positioning us well to pursue future opportunities. Over the year, we advanced our hyperscale focus strategy with approximately SGD 1.1 billion of acquisitions in Singapore and Tokyo, including achieving full ownership of four data centres in Singapore, namely Keppel DC Singapore 3, 4, 7, and 8. We also completed the 10-year land tenure extension for Keppel DC Singapore 7 and 8. To support our growth, we raised SGD 404.5 million via a preferential offering in October 2025, which was 168.2% subscribed.
On the divestment front, we recycled capital through the sale of Kelsterbach Data Centre and are progressing towards completing the divestments of Basis Bay Data Centre and NetCo Bonds and Preference Shares this year. These divestments will not only unlock approximately SGD 200 million for reinvestments, but more importantly, sharpen our portfolio.
Reflecting our strategic pivot, we saw a clear uplift in rental income from hyperscalers compared to a year ago. We were also honored to be included in the Straits Times Index from June 2025, alongside award wins in Singapore and Ireland. These recognitions reinforce the strong momentum we are building for our next phase of growth. I will now let Adam take you through the financial updates.
Loh Hwee Long. Our robust financial performance was driven by contributions from Singapore and Japan acquisitions and strong portfolio performance. This was partially offset by the absence of income from the divestment of Kelsterbach Data Center and one-off dispute settlement sum received in 2024. We also benefited from a declining interest rate environment. Our finance costs were overall lower year-on-year, despite higher borrowings for acquisitions due to refinancing initiatives and interest savings from our floating rate borrowings. We have declared a second half 2025 distribution of SGD 5.248, which will be paid on March 19th. This brings our full year 2025 DPU to SGD 10.381. Moving on to capital management, we continue to maintain a disciplined capital structure. Aggregate leverage stands at 35.3%, providing around SGD 530 million of headroom to our internal cap of 40%.
The increase in aggregate leverage from the previous quarter was mainly due to the acquisition of Tokyo Data Center 3 and payment for the 10-year land tenure lease extension for Keppel DC Singapore 7 and 8, partially offset by higher property valuations. Our cost of debt improved to 2.8% in fourth quarter and 3% for the full year 2025, supported by lower floating rates and Japanese yen-denominated loans. Assuming no further change in our capital structure, we expect our average cost of debt to trend downwards to 2.7% in 2026. Our interest coverage ratio also improved to 7.5 times, reflecting lower interest costs and higher contributions from our Singapore colocation assets.
Total borrowing at end 2025 increased to $2.4 billion due to acquisitions. 71% of our debt is hedged, and maturities remain staggered. Our weighted average debt and hedged tenure stands at 3.3 and 3.5 years, respectively. With the quarter-on-quarter increase, it may lead to the loans drawn for the acquisition of Tokyo Data Centre 3. To provide certainty to our unit holders in relation to currency exposure, we have also substantially hedged our forecast foreign source distributions till end June 2027. I will now let Charmaine take you through portfolio updates.
Thanks, Adam. Valuation of our data centre portfolio increased 25.6% year-on-year to SGD 6.1 billion, driven largely by the acquisition of Tokyo Data Centre 3 and valuation uplift for our Singapore assets. Excluding acquisitions and divestment, overall valuations were still up by 3.7% year-on-year. Across Asia-Pacific, overall valuations were up, anchored by the strength of the Singapore portfolio. Singapore assets saw overall strong gains, supported by positive reversions and strong fundamentals. In Europe, overall values were stable, underpinned by the strength of our Dublin assets, which offset declines at selected DCs due to asset-specific factors. Overall, the valuation uplift reflects the strength and resilience of the core markets we are present in, alongside disciplined execution of our hyperscale focus strategy. Portfolio occupancy remained high at 95.8%, and our weighted average lease expiry of 6.7 years continues to provide income stability.
For the fourth quarter of 2025, while renewal contracts were smaller in scale and shorter in tenure, with rents largely marked to market, we achieved a portfolio reversion of around 2% for the quarter. For the full year, portfolio reversion came in strong at about 45%, reflecting healthy demand and proactive management. We continue to focus on portfolio optimization to enhance occupancy and asset efficiency. Our client at GV7 Data Center indicated that they will not be renewing their contract when it expires in February 2027. We have begun leasing efforts. GV7 is strategically located, with excellent connectivity to Europe, and while the asset is smaller and older, this gives us flexibility to refresh it to capture new demand segments. We are concurrently assessing repositioning or enhancement options to maximize its long-term value.
We continue to look out for strategic acquisitions, particularly in established data center hubs such as Japan, South Korea, Europe, and Singapore. For 2026, around 6.4% of contracts by rental income are due for renewal. These include some smaller contract expiries across Singapore, Europe, and Australia. We still see opportunities to capture growth, particularly at our colocation assets. In addition, our master lease contracts have embedded escalation, which will support steady growth. Our client base remains globally diversified, anchored by major hyperscalers. Rental income from hyperscalers rose to 69.3% as at December 31st, 2025, up from 61.1% a year ago, reflecting our strategic focus. With our latest acquisition of Tokyo Data Center 3, our top client concentration has reduced to 42.1%. We will continue to ensure that our income base is diversified across assets, geographies, and lease maturities, reducing single-point exposure. Moving on to outlook.
Looking ahead, global growth is expected to ease to 2.6% in 2026, while interest rate trajectories remain uncertain. At the same time, the data center market continues to tighten. From 2025 to 2029, demand is projected to grow at 19.4% compounded annual growth rate, outpacing supply at 17.9%, with vacancy rates expected to fall across major regions. This growth will be driven by continued cloud adoption, rapid digitalization, and rising AI workloads. These structural trends position Keppel DC REIT well to capture hyperscale and AI-driven demand. We will continue to pursue high-quality accretive acquisitions in established hubs while proactively managing our portfolio to enhance resilience and growth. Thank you. We will now take questions.
For analysts who are joining us on the Teams platform, please click on the raise hand button if you would like to ask a question and wait for a queue before you unmute yourself to post your question. For the benefit of all participants on today's call, please limit yourself to two questions. If you have more questions, please re-enter the queue. For those joining us via the webcast platform, please type your questions via the chat box provided. Can I have the first question from Terence, JPM?
T hanks, Renee. Happy New Year, Hwee Long and team. Congrats on the good set of numbers. I just want to ask the first question on backfilling. I see that Gore Hill, the lease is coming due. There were discussions previously with the tenant. How is the backfilling coming along? And sorry, how is the renewal of the lease and also backfilling of the empty space at Gore Hill? And also for SGP1, what's any updates there? Thank you.
Okay, thank you, Terence. Happy New Year also. Thanks for your question. So I think in terms of specifically, I think to the two assets that you mentioned for both Gore Hill and SGP1, actually for both, there are active discussions going on. Yeah, I think we will share. I think once we have a bit more certainty around where we land. In the case of Gore Hill, obviously, I think in the case of Australia down under, because I think today we just, Australia Day just ended.
So that market, the characteristic is that it slows down quite a bit during the year end until end January. So we hope that the conversation will continue to pick up. But anyway, I think we do have active conversations going on. That's why I can share with you. And be patient with us. I think once we have a bit better landing on where we will, where we can get at, we will certainly, I think, share with all of you. Yeah.
Okay, and perhaps on another two assets, GV7 and Cardiff.
Yeah, okay. I think for the case of GV7, obviously, I think we just got the feedback, official notice from the customer that they are probably not looking to extend, upon expiry next year. So I think on that front, currently what we are doing is actually we are going out to the market. We are engaging on that re-leasing type of conversations at the same time also. Through some of these conversations, we also get feedback in terms of what some of these new customers may be potentially looking at. So that also forms part of that type refresh considerations that go into it. But fundamentally, I think if you look at it from a locational perspective, GV7 is actually located in a very prime location from a data center perspective.
So I think on that front, we are actually, I think, cautiously optimistic that we should be able to get a good outcome out of it. But notwithstanding that, of course, I think if you look at it from a portfolio construct standpoint, both GV7 and Cardiff are generally smallish assets. So I think from that perspective also, I think we also need to think of it from a portfolio rebalancing perspective, how we continue to make them relevant in the context of our strategic shift towards a hyperscale type of a strategy, which is why I think, which we shared earlier on on some of the other assets as well. I think selectively, we continue to conduct those power intensification studies to see if we can do something transformational as well for these assets. If we can, there'll be even better. Yeah.
Sorry, if I could slip in one more on tax transparency at SGP 7 and 8?
Certainly, you can certainly slip that in. Okay, I think on the transparency, maybe I get Adam to answer that if it's okay. Yeah.
Currently, we are still in the midst of doing the LLP conversion. Once that is done, I think the tax transparency will come in quite shortly.
Is that a timeline, expected timeline?
We expect it to probably conclude in first quarter, this quarter.
Okay, that's great. That's all I have. Thanks.
Thank you, Terence. Thanks a lot.
Next question, Brandon from Citi.
Hey, morning, Hwee Long. Just on my first question, can you share with us what's happening now in China? I think you took a 16% valuation down this full year. So is this the max that we will see and any leasing updates there?
Okay, thanks, Brandon. I think in the case of China, yeah, I think there's a shift downwards in terms of valuation this year. I think one part of it is got to do with there's a change in value actually this year. So obviously, I think with different values, they do come with different set of assumptions. So probably to your question, whether is there further downside, we certainly hope no more. But taking a step back, I think you look at the market itself. Today, if you compare today versus one year ago, the landscape has changed dramatically. Our own assessment is that certainly, I think the worst is probably over.
Moving forward, it's really about how the market can gather strength in terms of that outward recovery in the data center space that will be largely, what do you call, driven by the strategic, I think, shift towards things AI focused for China. So I think last year, you will notice that I think there is, I think, quite meaningful signups from a demand perspective in some of the more key markets. In particular, I think the Greater Beijing area. And the intention, or rather not intention, the hope is really to see that demand profile strengthening further and being a bit more widespread across the rest of the Chinese submarkets in that sense. And one of the key so-called choke points that we keep getting feedback from the potential customers is their access to GPU. And on that front, actually, we are quite lucky this week.
It's quite timely. I think two nights ago, the relaxation by the Chinese government in terms of letting the H200s being available, at least at the starting point with the three big guys going back into China, I think that is probably a pretty good so-called milestone. So on that basis, hopefully, that will also be a catalyst towards more widespread type of demand growth, I think, this year for the Chinese DC market. So I think that's something that we are monitoring very closely. So yeah, it's early days, but yeah, certainly, I think we will continue to up our engagement with the potential clients. And yeah, hopefully, we are able to make some progress this year on the leasing front.
Are you able to share any guidance on when we could see a bit of a positive contribution?
I think, yeah, no, I think in all candidness, I can't. Because I mean, from this type of leasing discussions, there's a negotiation that goes on in that sense. So it's impossible to give you complete guidance from that standpoint. But certainly, I think from a market standpoint, like I shared, I think we are seeing it turning. And from our perspective, I think what we continue to do is to increase, I think, the engagement with the list of potential customers that we are targeted together with Blue sea. And hopefully, I think we are able to make good progress, I think, on some of those conversations sooner rather than later.
Okay, just on the second question, I think recently, your sponsor managed to secure a pretty decent power bank in Melbourne. So how does that shape your strategy in Australia now? I mean, you've obviously been divesting, sponsor has been divesting. Does it change anything on that front?
From the perspective, actually, you look at Keppel DC REIT and probably I think the sponsor as well. From a strategy perspective, in general, I think we are doing an active pivot towards a hyperscale type of a strategy. So from that perspective, actually, what you saw, the sponsor announcing, I think last week or this recently, in terms of their potential involvement, I think, in the Melbourne area, actually, it does fall within that overall strategy towards a more hyperscale type of execution. So from that standpoint, I wouldn't say there's a shift. In fact, I think they are probably executing on what they intend to do. Yeah.
Okay, good. Hey, thanks so much. Thank you. We're good.
All right. Thank you. Thank you.
Next question, Dale from DBS.
T hanks, Renee. Hi, Hwee Long and team. Congrats on the strong results. My first question is with regards to this GV7 and Cardiff. I mean, I understand that they are smallish assets, but in terms of CapEx, in terms of downtime, what should we be expecting? What should we be pricing in?
I think in terms of the CapEx, I think that one is still early days. I think we do need to see how the leasing conversations pan out because different customers do have different requirements. And also, I think whatever CapEx that is part of that conversation that needs to be put in, obviously, has to be commensurate from a return standpoint, whether is it through higher rentals and whatnot, or in some instances, actually, some of these CapExes, we try to it's more of a tenant type of responsibility. And then so I think that part is still early. But notwithstanding that, I think at this juncture, we do not anticipate very mega scale type of works in that sense. So I think, yeah, probably you should be thinking in that direction.
From a downtime perspective, I think, again, I think we probably the first part of it, obviously, is that we try to progress leasing conversations in parallel to transitioning out existing customers. So on that front, we'll try to, I think, minimize, I think, the gap as much as we can. But it will definitely not be a back to back because I think there will be a shift in the equipment in and out and some period of time needed for that effect and whatnot.
Maybe just a follow-up on this. So for example, Cardiff, because the lease is up in six months' time, so I mean, is it fair to assume one year downtime, assuming you need time to get tenant, you need to spend a bit on CapEx to refurbish? Is one year downtime a fair assumption?
I think, yeah, probably 6 months to 1 year. But obviously, I think practically in terms of execution, we certainly want to try to shorten that.
Okay, g ot it. Okay, then moving on to my second question. I think in terms of the NetCo Bonds, any update on that? When is it expected to be redeemed? Because that drop in income is going to be quite significant, right?
I think the one right now, the so-called ball is in the Basis Bay's court. I think I believe they are undergoing some of the regulatory type of approval process. I think that's still ongoing. But based on our understanding, it should be, we are hopeful that it should be done, hopefully, I think, in the first half of this year. Yeah.
Okay. Got it. That's all from me for now. Thank you.
Thank you.
Next question, Derek from Morgan Stanley.
Hi, morning. Just want to maybe ask a question on the AI at SGP 8. I think you previously touched on it a quarter ago. Just wondering if there's any updates there. And I think you also mentioned you could intensify the power through a CFA application, given that it was just launched by the government a month ago. Have you applied for the CFA?
Thanks, Derek, for the question. I think on the first part, in terms of that AI progress that we shared, I think 3Q25, I think in terms of the actual works itself, it's actually progressing very well. I think we are on track based on what we intend to do in terms of timeline standpoint. So on that front, yeah, I think it's good. Separately, I think in terms of the question around CFA, I believe I think the submission that the authorities are looking at is probably towards the end of 1Q. Yeah, now we are still a bit early. So that part, I probably had nothing substantial to share with you.
That's a deadline, right? 1Q is a deadline, right? That's a deadline, right?
Correct. Correct. Correct.
Right. Sorry, the timeline for SGP 8, what's the timeline for the completion and I guess the quantum of the investment there?
Okay. In terms of the outflow, obviously, the work is progressive. From now, I think the first half of next year, I think we're anticipating that it will start to generate income from the second half next year onwards.
Right. Okay. Got it. And just lastly, I could ask about cap rates. I think there's quite a broad range of cap rates in the slides. Just wondering what your Singapore cap rates would look like and what would be your kind of target cap rates in those markets that you're keen on?
Okay. On the cap rates, maybe I can get Charmaine to share a little bit more on that front.
The Singapore cap rates, I guess it depends on where the land lease tenure. But generally, we see cap rates between the 6%-6.5% kind of range.
I think it's still holding quite well. As far as the Singapore market is concerned, of course, in terms of the markets, to your question, that we are interested in from a growth perspective, on that front, I would say, yeah, similarly, not much major movement. So for markets like, for example, Europe, they're still looking at the range of probably 5%-6%. Similarly, I think in the case of Korea, and then Japan, more recently, we have not seen any recent transaction, but I think the market is probably still in that 3%-4% type of range. Yeah. So no major movement as of now. Yeah.
Okay. So the bets have been driven really by the rent reversion expectations?
Oh, yes, yes. I think in our case, yes. Because I think if you look at the whole portfolio, I would say in general, the cap rates are holding pretty firm. Yeah.
Okay. Got it. Thanks so much.
Thank you.
Next one, Rachel from Macquarie.
Congrats on this record year that you have delivered. Maybe just a few questions from me. I think firstly, on the vacancies that's coming on those assets, I remember there was some power study, and then I'm just wondering which asset are you looking at increasing the power? And for SGP1, I mean, the occupancy is down to 50%. I know you say the AI won't be so soon. Are we expecting you to announce something on SGP1 in the next year or so?
Okay. Thanks, Rachel. Thanks for the question. I think in terms of the question around the power studies, if there's any so-called particular asset where we have ability to increase the power available to it at this juncture, not yet. I think we haven't, in all candidness, for some of the studies that we are going through now, we haven't hit jackpot yet in that sense. But notwithstanding that, I think back to, I think, the example that Derek earlier on touched on, while on one front, we try to see is there ability for us to increase the so-called power going into some of the sites that we have. Separately, we also continue on other pathways as well to effectively increase the value creation ability of our portfolio.
So what I mean by that is, for example, I think in the case of the AI that we are doing for SGP8, so through improving on the operational efficiency, we are able to create additional sellable power capacity to be injected into that so-called inventory that we can sell to our customers. So that's another pathway. And apart from that, actually, there are also other initiatives that we are actively working on. For example, I think some of you may have later on some questions around, how come our reversions is down to about 2% in 4Q? One part of it, of course, like what I've always shared, reversions is a function of the type of contracts that we have up for renewal in each quarter, and that will affect the so-called magnitude of that number.
But apart from that, also from an operational or other management perspective, what we have been also actively doing is also we do engage our customers quite actively as well. So we also work with them in terms of understanding their underlying business utilization. So in certain cases, they may not be utilizing at the levels that they are contracting with us at. So what we do is that through that active client engagement when it comes for renewal, actually, sometimes we do so-called reduce the contracted capacity with them. But at the same time, of course, I think the headline rents do go up. What that means is that I think we don't compromise the income-generating capability of the asset.
But at the same time, because of such active contract, so-called management, what that does is that it actually frees up additional sellable capacity that we can now sell to the market. And that will become another incremental so-called income that we can generate. So those are initiatives that we continue to execute to be able to continue to deliver, I think, good organic growth to the portfolio. Apart from, of course, I think what we will continue to do on the inorganic side globally.
That's good. So this kind of reduced contracted capacities, I'm assuming you are referring to Singapore, right?
No, no. It's more Singapore, Dublin. And in general, also, I mean, whenever a contract comes up for renewal, I think that's something that we will always consider to see how we can better use the precious power that we have within the portfolio.
Okay. And since you haven't gotten any increase in power for your assets, and also you said that you want to move towards the hyperscaler data center, can I assume that you might look at divesting your Cardiff, GV7, those kind of, or even the Milan one, those smaller assets? Yeah.
I think overall, if you look at our activity in the past two years, yes, I think there is active portfolio rebalancing that we are executing as we pivot towards hyperscale strategy. So I think on that front, obviously, I think if there are credible conversations around those assets, yeah, I think we'll be open-minded about it as well.
Okay. Got it. Just my second question just follows through to acquisitions. You have done the Japan one, so you've given Europe and Korea. Should I assume that your next acquisition will be around two other markets?
I think acquisitions, those are quite opportunistic in that sense. But certainly, I think my investment colleagues, obviously, I think we do get quite a fair bit of deal flow in that sense. But these are markets that I think we think will make sense for us. So certainly, we'll continue to do work on them. And yeah, so hopefully, I think if something strikes, so we'll certainly share more with all of you. Yeah. But these are the very specific focus markets that ranks higher in terms of priority for us when we go out to so-called hunt for good quality deals. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thanks a lot, Rachel. Thanks a lot.
Next question, Wong Yew Kiang, from CLSA.
Hi, Hwee Long. Can you hear me? Happy New Year.
Hey. You can. Yes. See you, man.
Just maybe two questions. One is on the lease expiry, the 6.4% coming up this year. How much of that is Singapore colocation? And can we also expect the same kind of positive rent reversion trend going forward?
Okay. Thanks. I think this year, if you look at it, I would say we still have quite a good representation from Singapore in terms of that bar that we have. And in terms of, I think, reversion trend, I think the market has not changed fundamentally. So still very robust. So certainly, I think we are still working towards positive, I think, good quality positive reversions for the portfolio. And of course, I think what I described with Rachel earlier on as well, those will be initiatives that continue to push on to give that overall push towards organic delivering organic growth. Yeah.
We can continue the same kind of trajectory in terms of reversions or?
Oh, I think if you look at it, okay, that one.
I mean, how underrated is this 6.4% coming up?
It's a mixture. It's a mixture. Generally, you ask me, yes, I think there's still scope for us to drive, I think, good returns. But again, in terms of the magnitude, that one has to be very dependent on what comes up. So that one, if you look at, for example, 2025 as an example, not all quarters deliver the same type of headline numbers from a reversion perspective. So I think that type of trend, you should expect that to persist in that sense. Yeah.
Okay. Then the second question is on the post-lease extension payment. So where will this bring your gearing to? And what's your focus for this year? Are you still going to do any very punchy deals this year?
Okay. I think the first part, maybe I'll let Adam answer.
Can I just check what's the after this deal? This deal is it? I can't really.
No, I think the first part is on the gearing first.
Oh, gearing.
Yeah.
After the.
The gearing after the SGD 350 million has been paid. So the gearing is 35.3%. I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. So the 35% includes all the payment or whatever that was taken down to. Okay. Okay. And then what's the full focus for this year? I mean, it's so comfortable, right?
No, I think so that part, he answered your question on the gearing. So 35.3%, that's our gearing level. So in terms of so-called punchy deals, no, I think we are not out to just do punchy deals. It has to be realistic. I think whatever that I think we want to execute, whether it's big or small, I think we want to make sure firstly it aligns with our overall strategy. But more importantly, I think it must deliver good quality returns to the portfolio itself. So on that front, will we continue to try to find inorganic growth opportunities? Short answer, yes. Must it necessarily be a so-called punchy deal? May not be. But the key thing is that it needs to meet our investment criteria, our shareholders' returns aspiration.
Those will be the considerations that we have when we work on executing our investment program in that sense. Yeah.
Okay. I'll jump back to the queue. There's a long line there. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Next question, Jonathan.
Thanks, Renee.
Jonathan from UOB Kay Hian.
Yeah. Congrats on the good results. First question relates to your guidance on cost of debt. Where would it be in 2026? And which currency do you see more room to reduce cost of debt? And then secondly, you mentioned about a more transformational repositioning, and maybe even on a hyperscale basis. I believe you are referring to GV7. And would you comment on whether you can secure higher power capacity for GV7? And is that sufficient to reposition debt for hyperscale? Thank you.
Thanks a lot, Jon. I think first question, I'll let Adam answer first. Yeah.
Yeah. Hi, Jon. So, the 2026 guidance, we expect the cost of debt to hover around 2.7%. In terms of which currency this is being, have more room for maneuvering. I think because in fourth quarter, the Tokyo Data Center 3 was being completed, so it was probably 1.5 months of contribution. The full quarter impact or the full year impact will be seen in this year. In terms of the currency, other currency like Singapore dollar and euro, those are still some of them are in floating positions. So those are areas that we can expect to see some movement there.
Okay.
And then I think, Jon, I think on the second part of your question, just to clarify, I think the so-called from a repositioning perspective or the pivot to hyperscale, that will not be specific to only GV7. In fact, that's an active strategy that we are adopting across the portfolio. So that one just to clarify. So I think in the case of GV7, still a little bit early days also.
But again, similarly, I think those will be part of the considerations that we put in as we evaluate, I think, the pathways that we have post-exit of the existing customer. Yeah. So on the power front, same thing. I think if we are positive, if we make good positive headways on that front, we'll certainly update, I think, the group in the coming months if we can achieve that. Yeah. At this moment, nothing is so confirmed that we're locked in yet. Yeah.
Okay. Understand. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Joy from HSBC.
Hey, morning. Thank you, Hwee Long and team. First question, would you start to consider development? I mean, you have a few of older assets or assets that tenants are moving out. Would you consider these as candidate?
Hi, Joy. Yeah. Thanks for the question. I think from a development perspective, I think certainly, I think that will be one of the optionalities to your point for some of the older assets. Of course, I think we do have to so-called maneuver within the so-called regulatory limits that we have where we cannot do more than 10% of our so-called portfolio. But certainly, I think if there are good opportunities that can actually inject a greater value to the portfolio, we will be open to it. Yeah.
I see. And I guess in terms of yield on cost, let's say take Singapore as an example, how much additional yield uplift do you think you can get if you do a redevelopment versus just leasing up?
Versus just leasing up for Singapore?
Yeah. Let's say SGP1.
Oh, wow. Okay. As an example.
Yeah.
I think that, on cost, you look at it from the standpoint, the uplift, actually, it can be quite interesting. Candidly, I don't have specific numbers to share with you at this juncture. But I think the number can be fairly interesting. If you are able to do something so-called transformational, I think, for example, for those instances. But again, I think that one I'm just talking in general. It's nothing specific yet. Perhaps give us a bit more time. I think once we progress a bit more, I think along the way, we'll try to share more with all of you also in terms of what we are looking at. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. And then if I can just follow up one more question on your DC pricing. So for all your colo right now, is your pricing based on power or it's still a mix of power and space?
Oh, I think for all our colo, for DC usage, it will be based on power. And obviously, I think for some of the assets, there's still a little bit of so-called workspace or they call it ancillary space type of usage. Those will be real estate based on square foot type of metrics. But that is a very minority. So the bulk of it will still be so-called capacity or power-based.
On actual usage, what capacity are you on?
On actual usage, what you mean is utilization, is it?
Yeah. Correct. Correct. Utilization of the power.
That one, we can't really disclose fully because I think, again, it's back to some of it is a bit sensitive with the customers. But fair to say that it's a broad brush. Certainly, if you look at utilization versus the power that we have available to the portfolio today without touching anything else, we are definitely not maxing out yet.
Okay. You can't share broad brush percentage, right?
No, we can't. Because I think today also with also just to clarify, the current arrangements that we have with our customers today, actually, I would say the bulk of it, they're paying based on contracted capacity, not based on utilization. So from that perspective, the income that we are receiving is based on the power that we have, not so much on the actual utilized amount. But again, back to the other point that I shared earlier on, that's also where we see a little bit of opportunities there in terms of that two-way engagement with the customers when some leases come up for renewal.
For some of the customers, if their utilization has not been traditionally very high, so that will open up the avenues for us to come up with renewal strategies for when some of those contracts come up for renewal where we can free up additional capacity to sell to other people. Yeah.
Got it. Thank you very much. It's very helpful.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I think Hwee Long , you also addressed one of the questions from the online platform. So the investor was asking, is there a difference between contracted power from the tenant versus what the tenant uses and what we charge? So do we charge based on what the tenant use? Yeah. So I think you've already addressed that.
Yeah. So on that front, we charge based on what the tenant contract.
Okay. Thanks. There's another question from the platform. So they're asking, excluding acquisitions, what would like-for-like revenue and NPI for FY 2025 look like?
Excluding the acquisitions, the NPI would be about 10% increase like for like. If you further exclude the divestment, that would be the number would be higher, much higher.
Next question, Tan Xuan from Goldman Sachs.
Hi, morning. If I look at your acquisitions, right, 2025, you did about SGD 1 billion. Do you think you can go beyond SGD 1 billion acquisition in 2026? And the reason I'm asking is because if I look regionally, there don't seem to be many competitors with your kind of cost of capital. Can you also walk me through what are the hurdles to some of the ongoing discussion on acquisitions?
Okay. Hello, Tan. Thank you for the question. I think in terms of can we do more compared to last year? Again, I think that one is similar to what I shared with Yu Qiang. I think key thing to note is that we are on growth or say of growing. So on that front, it's really, I think, dependent on the type of what we see in the market, what we can get access to. If you look at it from the other perspective in terms of the deal flow or the pipeline that we are looking at, I would say it's fairly robust because I think globally, the market, there's a lot of emphasis in the data center market globally, and we are seeing quite a fair bit of opportunities.
But again, notwithstanding that, if you look at it from a deal finder perspective, actually, we do get shown a lot of deals, but actually, the majority of time, we don't really proceed on. And the reason is because I think we are quite particular in terms of deal selection to ensure that it's a good strategic fit for us that fits not only our strategy, but in terms of the overall portfolio construct, it must be a good fit to our longer-term aspiration in that sense. So I think you asked me in terms of the hurdles. I think the hurdles today is more of making sure whatever, if you were to progress on, how that fits into our aspiration, our objectives, our overall portfolio strategy for Keppel DC REIT. And today, we get shown deals from everywhere across the globe.
Some, in the case of a wrong geographical fit, a wrong strategy fit in the sense that whether it is hyperscale, non-hyperscale in nature, some may be more of other risk profiles that can be assessed specifically that may not be complementary to what Keppel DC REIT has today. So there are actually a multitude of so-called considerations that we have. So I wouldn't turn to that as so-called hurdles. It's more from a perspective that I think meeting what we set out to do. I think that's more from our perspective. And of course, I think from execution perspective, we also touch base a little bit in terms of where Keppel DC REIT is today from a balance sheet standpoint. I think currently, like what Adam mentioned earlier on, from a gearing standpoint, we are today at about 35.3%.
What that means is that it gives us headroom of around, I think, SGD 500-SGD 600 million on hand for us to be able to execute on any acquisitions if the right deal comes about. So yeah, I think it's still a very sizable headroom that we have. But at the same time, also, we want to be very responsible and make sure we utilize it responsibly and carefully in that sense. Yeah.
Thank you. Second question is on NPI margin. So colo is up, and then shell and core is down quite a bit. What were the reasons, and is this a good run rate to project going forward as well?
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. No, I think the colocation one part, obviously, I think part of the reason why NPI margin has improved is because of the flow-through effect, because of, I think, the positive work that the team has done from a contract renewal standpoint. I think we are able to drive better NPI margin flow-through for our colocation assets. I think when it comes to the master leases, the powered shell, I think from NPI standpoint, most of them, actually, the flow-through from a margin perspective should be relatively stable in that sense. But in some instances, I think it may be to do with things like property taxes and whatnot that might cause some movements in that case.
Okay. Thank you.
Yeah.
Pivoting to Tan's earlier question, we have another question online that says, "What's one reason they're stopping us from heading into the U.S. market since the hyperscalers are there?
Okay. Thank you very much for that question. I think the U.S. market is very interesting. I think you are right that the hyperscalers are from there. That's their home country. In the case of Keppel DC REIT, when we consider markets that make sense to us, one part today, I think you look at us historically, we are obviously a very Singapore-based type of organization. So that's why I think historically, as the REIT was growing, it's really using Asia as a center, and then we started to spread out to the European side.
But more importantly, I think when it comes to the U.S. markets, it's a new market to Keppel DC REIT in that sense. But at the same time, also, we do have to profess that you compare Keppel DC REIT versus some of our friends in the sector, for example, our two other data center S-REITs.
We are not set up from a structure perspective to be so-called to handle so-called U.S. investments efficiently. So that's one slight hurdle. But of course, I think sometimes if a very compelling deal comes about, it might be able to so-called overcome that type of consideration. But at this juncture, also more importantly, I think we're also taking more of an observatory type of position when it comes to the U.S. market, given what's going on globally. At the same time, also taking a look at ourselves, we do believe that the key strength when it comes to Keppel DC REIT is that our Asian focus, our ability, I think, to execute our strategy, whether it is from a colocation perspective, I think that strategic strength really resides in some of the key markets that we are active on in Asia today, in particular, Singapore.
So I think on that front, I think we do want to leverage on our strength so that we can maximize, I think, the returns that we can drive for our unit holders, which, yeah, if you look at our performance, hopefully, that is also a reflection of our tactical focus in terms of execution. So I think that's something that we'll continue to be very disciplined on.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we have come to the end of Keppel DC REIT's result webcast. Thank you again for joining us and have a pleasant day ahead. Bye-bye.
Thank you very much.