GMG, one of the world’s largest industrial property companies, has made one of the most significant strategic pivots on the ASX, transforming from a logistics and warehouse landlord into a major force in global DC development. Data centres now account for almost 70% of Goodman’s total development work-in-progress of $12.4 billion, with that figure projected to grow to over $17.5 billion by June 2026, anchored by a secured pipeline of 1.8 gigawatts across power-constrained metro locations in Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. The pivot is a masterclass in using an existing competitive advantage, premium urban land in power-accessible locations, to capture the AI infrastructure wave, without having to build the customer relationships from scratch.
- Greg Goodman and Co have proven themselves to be world-class operators in the past, and we believe they will again.
To fund this acceleration, GMG launched a fully underwritten $4 billion institutional placement in February 2025, accompanied by a share purchase plan, with proceeds earmarked to fund development working capital across its pipeline of approximately 0.5 gigawatts of data centre projects expected to be active by June 2026, projects with an estimated end value of over $10 billion. Goodman has also moved smartly to de-risk its balance sheet through capital partnerships, signing a 50/50 European data centre development agreement with Canada’s CPP Investments in December 2025, with an indicative scale of $14 billion and an initial capital commitment of $3.9 billion across projects in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris. The structure is clever: Goodman develops and manages the assets, brings in long-term institutional capital to share the build cost, and earns fees throughout, meaning it captures the upside of the data centre boom without carrying the full balance sheet risk alone.
The trouble for GMG’s share price has been two-fold:
- GMG has struggled as a property business as the RBA continues to tighten interest rates – over the last 6-months the real estate sector has fallen ~15%.
- GMG has struggled as a new entrant to the DC space as a major tech rerating washed through the ASX – over the last 6-months the technology sector has fallen ~36%.
While GMG shares have been caught in the middle of the storm, we believe both headwinds have passed their nadir, and this profitable business is currently our preferred position for ASX-led DC exposure.
- We can see GMG testing the $40 area in the coming year (s) – MM is long GMG in its Active Growth Portfolio.
Two other local stocks that offer DC exposure albeit on a different level and perspective, are Macquarie Technology (MAQ) and old stalwart Telstra (TLS):