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Eco World Development shares, which listed Malaysian tycoon Leong Kok Wah as its largest shareholder, sold another piece of land to a Microsoft unit, led to a piece of land sold along with the data center operator.
Microsoft earlier this week agreed to buy a 138.5-acre (560,489 square meters) plot of land at RM694 million ($154 million) on Eco World Business Park in Joe Hall, southern Malaysia. The U.S. tech giant plans to build data centers in the coming years with its $2.2 billion investment commitment to expand its $2.2 billion investment commitment to its digital infrastructure.
“Proposal to develop data centers on the land will increase the attractiveness of eco-world business parks,” Jessica Low, an analyst at MIDF Research in Kuala Lumpur, wrote in a research note on Tuesday. She will herself The ratings are improved to stocks, bought from neutral.
Eco World's business park has been attracting tech giants, which raised over RM1.3 billion last year from sales of industrial plots to data center operators. Last June, it sold 123 acres of land to Microsoft in Johor. Two months later, it sold 57 acres to Princeton Digital Group, backed by Worburg Pais.
Eco World shares made progress the next day, with a 3.7% to 1.99 ringgit in afternoon trading in Kuala Lumpur. The stock is a developer of a mixed-use residential and commercial project after the company owns a privately owned Paragon Pinnacle, and a developer of an integrated commercial park in Punk Alam, Ponlandang, Selangor, about 30 southwest of Kuala Lumpur kilometer.
Malaysia is the center of Southeast Asia's data center boom, and global technology giants attract the country's affordable real estate and electricity supply. In addition to Microsoft, several international players, including Amazon, Google and Oracle, are expanding their data center operations in the country as AI and cloud computing is rapidly adopting.
Local developers such as Eco World are also delivering on the digital infrastructure boom. In addition to selling the land to data center operators, Maya Bank also wants the company to develop as a data center building landlord to develop a new recurring revenue stream from long-term lease contracts.
“Eco World is in conversation with data center participants and may get 1-2 deals at its business parks in Klang Valley and Johor,” wrote Wong Wei Sum, an analyst at Maybank in Kuala Lumpur, in a note.
Eco World develops townships, business parks and high-rise apartments in Malaysia, and also has operations in Melbourne, London, Singapore and Sydney. Leong has been vice chairman since 2013 and he owns a large stake in the company. according to Forbes' data.
