By Hamza Faisal
Shares in Australian data-centre operator NEXTDC surged as much as 45.8 percent on Thursday after rival operators Goodman Group and Digital Realty moved to buy up to 9.9 percent of the company in a deal worth about A$715 million ($501 million), snapping up stock that had cratered in October.
NEXTDC shares climbed to A$9.52 in early trading, putting the stock on course for its strongest intraday gain on record. The rally almost exactly reversed October's 45.8 percent slide, which followed a power delay at its M3 Melbourne site, a guidance cut and a freeze on new developments.
An "opportunistic" raid, says the board
NEXTDC's board did not welcome the move warmly. In a statement on Thursday, it said it considered the aftermarket bookbuild by an entity owned by Goodman and Digital Realty to be "opportunistic", and stressed that it had received no takeover proposal.
The purchase was made through an aftermarket bookbuild open only to institutional investors, at A$9.50 a share, a 45.5 percent premium to Wednesday's close. Market reports put the stake actually taken at about 7.5 percent, below the 9.9 percent ceiling in the offer.
Both buyers told investors during the bookbuild that they had "no intention of submitting a control proposal or making a takeover bid for the company at this time, but reserve their right to do so." Neither company immediately responded to Reuters' requests for comment.
Why NEXTDC was vulnerable
The raid comes just two weeks after NEXTDC's 21 October announcement of the M3 Melbourne power delay and revised guidance for fiscal 2027. The company also said it would shelve new development projects and land acquisitions for the foreseeable future, a combination that sent the shares tumbling through October.
That sell-off left one of Australia's leading data-centre operators trading far below where it started the month, and evidently too cheap for its two biggest rivals to ignore.
Rivals betting on Australian data-centre demand
Goodman and Digital Realty are both major players in the data-centre property market, and the deal gives them a stake of nearly 10 percent in a direct competitor. The move lands as demand for data-centre capacity keeps climbing on the back of the artificial intelligence boom, making established operators attractive even when their shares stumble.
What happens next is now the open question. The buyers have said they are not planning a takeover for now, but they have pointedly kept the option open, and NEXTDC's board has made clear it views the current move as opportunistic rather than friendly. Investors will be watching whether the stake stays a passive holding or becomes the first step toward something bigger.
