At a glance
Macquarie Capital has invested in Zerra DC, the developer of the Western Downs Digital Park near Dalby in southern Queensland, Zerra said on 6 October 2026.
Financial terms were not disclosed, and AGP, the Singapore investment manager that set up Zerra, remains the majority shareholder.
Macquarie Capital was a consortium partner and adviser on the Western Downs campus before the deal. Anthropic has leased the campus's first stage.
The stake gives Macquarie exposure to more than 2GW of planned IT capacity across Australia, Japan and India.
Macquarie Capital, Macquarie Group's advisory and principal investment arm, has invested in Zerra DC, the Singapore developer behind the Western Downs Digital Park at Kogan. Zerra announced the deal on 6 October 2026 without disclosing the price or the size of the stake. AGP remains the majority shareholder, and advisory firm Grant Samuel acted for Zerra.
Macquarie Capital now sits on the Western Downs campus as adviser, as consortium partner and as a shareholder in the company developing it. The money funds further development of Zerra's portfolio across the Asia Pacific, Capital Brief reported.
Anthropic leased the first stage in September
Property group Dexus told the ASX on 16 September 2026 that a consortium including its data centre arm had entered into lease documentation with an Australian subsidiary of Anthropic for the first stage of the campus, subject to customary approvals. Dexus owns 85 per cent of Australian Data Centres, which holds 25 per cent of the consortium alongside Zerra and Macquarie Capital. Zerra develops and will operate the campus, and Macquarie Capital also acts as the consortium's project and financial adviser.
Zerra filed the application with Western Downs Regional Council on 17 August 2026, for four buildings totalling 1.44GW on 725.5 hectares about 37km north west of Dalby. Trade publication IPE Real Assets reported the campus would be worth around A$30 billion on completion, and called it the largest campus among data centres in Australia. The Financial Review reported in September that Anthropic is expected to use the site to run its Claude models for users rather than train new ones, which would make Kogan an inference AI data centre.
Macquarie Asset Management, a separate arm of the group, and Singapore sovereign fund GIC own Theseus Infrastructure, set up in August 2026 to own data centres in the United States that Anthropic leases.
Zerra's planned capacity runs past 2GW
Zerra's pipeline comprises more than 2GW of planned IT capacity across Australia, Japan and India, Reuters reported. Asian property news site Mingtiandi lists its projects as Western Downs, a campus in Melbourne, Inzai in Greater Tokyo and Navi Mumbai. The Melbourne project is the A$1.1 billion campus on the former Ford plant at Campbellfield, filed in April 2026.
AGP Sustainable Real Assets set up Zerra and rebranded the unit under the Zerra name in January 2026. "Macquarie Capital brings significant experience in backing and growing digital infrastructure businesses and its investment will help us strengthen our delivery and operating capabilities across our projects in Australia, Japan and India," Zerra co-founder Kristian Steffensen said, Capital Brief reported.
What to watch
The Australian Data Centres capital raise. Australian Data Centres is raising capital to bring further investors into the project, and Dexus has said it may take part as an investor.
The council decision. The ABC reported in September that approval of the Kogan application could take years, and the Financial Review has the campus starting operations in 2027 if approvals are granted.
The size of the stake. Neither Zerra nor Macquarie has put a price or a percentage on the investment.