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AZ Quest raises US$95mn from 7,000+ retail investors for Brazil's first data center-focused FII

By: IDCNOVARegion: Latin America
Brazilian asset manager AZ Quest has closed the first share issuance of its AZ Quest Panorama Data Centers FII (AZDC), raising R$482 million (US$95 million) from 7,057 investors. The company describes the fund as Brazil's first retail-distributed real estate fund dedicated exclusively to data center assets, opening a segment of digital infrastructure that has historically been the preserve of institutional investors.

The offering was structured entirely by AZ Quest in partnership with XP and executed through a sale-and-leaseback arrangement with Scala Data Centers. Under the deal, Scala sells the real estate assets to the fund while remaining as tenant and continuing to operate the data centers. AZ Quest said the structure allows retail investors to gain exposure to digital infrastructure, a market traditionally dominated by large institutions, and added that the strong demand confirms Brazilian investors' growing appetite for the sector.

Founded in 2001, AZ Quest manages approximately R$39 billion in assets across fixed income, equities, private credit, real estate and infrastructure strategies. The firm has been affiliated with Italy's Azimut group since 2015 and with XP since 2021.

The transaction is the latest in a series of fundraising moves by Scala to finance its expansion across Latin America. In November 2024, Scala used a similar sale-and-leaseback mechanism when Alianza Digital Realty, a real estate fund managed by BTG Pactual, acquired the POA data center in Porto Alegre for R$120 million (US$20.8 million), under a contract revised after floods hit the city in April of that year. At the time, Alianza described the deal as consolidating Brazil's first real estate fund focused on digital infrastructure assets.

Earlier, in August 2024, Scala issued R$1.37 billion in green debentures with a dollar swap to complete the Tamboré campus in Barueri, São Paulo state. With that issuance, Scala had raised a total of R$4.4 billion in green debentures, a Brazilian record for that type of bond. In July 2025, Scala closed its first international project finance deal in Chile, securing US$254 million in long-term financing plus a VAT credit line of approximately US$74 million, bringing the total to US$328 million. The consortium included MUFG, SMBC, BNP Paribas and Natixis, with funds earmarked for the expansion of the Curauma, Lampa and Huechuraba campuses.

In August 2025, Scala also announced a deal with Cat Power Finance, Caterpillar's financial arm, with an initial value of US$25 million (approximately R$136 million), backed by generators and equipment purchased from Caterpillar itself. The company has additionally obtained a loan from BNDES to acquire critical infrastructure components.

The AZDC fund issuance marks a milestone for Brazil's digital infrastructure investment landscape, potentially paving the way for more retail participation in data center financing as demand for cloud and AI-driven capacity continues to grow across the region.