estatements magazine, Edition 2, 2025: Driving forward the digital transition
21 / 07 / 25 - 4 minute read
Our latest estatements magazine - PATRIZIA's thought leadership publication - is themed on ‘driving forward the digital transition’.
The digital transition is one of the four DUEL megatrends which inform PATRIZIA's long-term investment strategy, with the others being urbanisation, the energy transition and the living transition. In this digital-only magazine, we provide insights on what PATRIZIA is doing to support digitalisation through its real asset investment, and we also include a Q&A with our Head of Investment Division James Muir and an analysis piece on the recently announced public infrastructure programmes in Germany and the UK.
Driving forward the digital transition
We are in the decade of infrastructure modernisation. Germany and the UK are taking the lead in Europe with their respective EUR 500 billion and GBP 725 billion infrastructure investment strategies. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves generated big headlines when announcing their huge public investment programmes, and citizens in both countries now await a clear roadmap for delivery.
These large investment volumes are sorely needed with a study at the end of 2024 suggesting that Germany needs EUR 400 billion to renew its crumbling infrastructure, while, around the same time, EY calculated that the UK’s infrastructure funding deficit stood at a staggering GBP 1.6 trillion.
For PATRIZIA and other real assets investment managers, therefore, now is the time to engage both governments. We have more than 25 years’ experience of managing infrastructure investments and more than 40 years in managing real estate across Europe and beyond, and we are ready to boost the public infrastructure programmes in our home market as well as in the UK – our international hub for global investments.
Asoka Wöhrmann, PATRIZIA CEO
As highlighted in our estatements article on the topic, public-private partnerships (PPPs) will be a crucial instrument to leverage public infrastructure programmes to create a strategic impact on modernising European society and economy.
Together, we can amplify spending across key areas such as transport, mobility, digital infrastructure, the energy transition and the critical task of modernising Europe’s built environment to accelerate progress towards affordable housing, modern living and building sustainable communities.
The German government has released the debt brake and is developing a plan for the execution of its special infrastructure fund, while in the UK, the government wants to bring in private finance and expertise to help with its ambitions.
As always, the devil is in the detail though and we will engage early with key decision-makers to leverage private capital for this unique investment opportunity – a point strongly made by the German Public-Private-Partnership Association shortly after Chancellor Merz’s announcement.
We are on the cusp of an infrastructure boom, which we hope catches fire across the rest of the continent, boosting our economies across Europe.
This cannot just be headline-grabbing statements of intent but must translate into real action to renew the European living and infrastructure landscape.
Digitalisation is key for modernisation
Both public investment plans support the digital transition of our economies and societies, which is the special focus of this estatements magazine.
We are actively driving the digital transition as you will read in this issue.
Our Head of Investment Division James Muir provides great insights on PATRIZIA’s digital heritage and role in applying digital solutions to real assets. And our Head of Fund Management RE-Infra Phoebe Smith explains how we are driving forward the digital transition, with our focus on data centres creating value through infrastructure and real estate investments.
We also look at the fast-emerging Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) infrastructure investment opportunity and our own such investment in Asia-Pacific. And finally, we focus on the digital tools which provide insights into our investments in the living sector.
Talking digital, this is our first digital-only edition of our client magazine, and we will deliver this format more frequently in our client communications moving forwards.
This article is taken from the digital version of our thought leadership magazine, estatements. Take a look at the magazine here:
WELCOME - estatements magazine Edition 2, 2025
Mit Public-Private-Partnerships Europas Infrastruktur voranbringen
In dieser Ausgabe der estatements beschäftigen wir uns unter anderem damit, wie Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) öffentliche Infrastrukturprogramme verstärken und als strategischer Hebel für die Modernisierung der europäischen Wirtschaft wirken können. Die Kombination aus staatlichem und privatem Kapital kann Investitionen in Schlüsselbereiche wie Transport, Mobilität, digitale Infrastruktur und Energiewende vervielfachen. Gleiches gilt für die wichtige Aufgabe, Europas Immobilienbestand zu modernisieren. Denn wir brauchen schnelle Fortschritte bei bezahlbarem Wohnen, modernen Wohnkonzepten und dem Aufbau nachhaltiger Gemeinschaften.
Im Frühjahr hat die Bundesregierung die Schuldenbremse gelockert und entwickelt gerade einen Plan zur Umsetzung des angekündigten Sondervermögens für Infrastrukturprojekte. Auch die britische Regierung will privates Kapital und Expertise mobilisieren, um ihre Ambitionen zu realisieren. Wie immer steckt der Teufel im Detail, um privates Kapital für dieses bedeutende Investmentvorhaben zu gewinnen. Bereits kurz nach der Ankündigung von Bundeskanzler Merz hat der Bundesverband Public Private Partnership die Bedeutung solcher Partnerschaften betont.
Wir stehen an der Schwelle zu einem Infrastrukturaufschwung, der hoffentlich den gesamten Kontinent mitzieht und damit das Wirtschaftswachstum in Europa beschleunigt. Hier reichen bloße Ankündigungen nicht aus, vielmehr braucht es konkrete Maßnahmen, um Europas Wohn- und Infrastrukturlandschaft zu erneuern.
Digitalisierung ist der Schlüssel zur Modernisierung
Die staatlichen Investitionsprogramme in beiden Ländern – Deutschland und dem Vereinigten Königreich – unterstützen die digitale Transformation, worauf wir unseren Fokus in dieser Ausgabe der estatements legen:
Der Leiter unserer internationalen Investment Division James Muir, beschreibt, warum wir bei PATRIZIA bereits seit langem auf Digitalisierung setzen und warum uns dies hilft, unsere Real Assets heute mit digitalen Lösungen zu verbessern. Phoebe Smith, verantwortlich für das Re-Infra-Investmentmanagement, erklärt, wie wir die digitale Transformation gestalten mit unserem Fokus auf Rechenzentren, um an der Schnittstelle der beiden Anlageklassen, Immobilien und Infrastruktur, Wert zu schaffen.
Darüber hinaus werfen wir einen Blick auf das schnell wachsende Infrastruktursegment von Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS) und unsere gezielten Investments in Asien-Pazifik. Schließlich beschäftigen wir uns mit digitalen Tools, die uns wichtige Einblicke für unsere Investments in Wohnimmobilien ermöglichen.
Digital ist außerdem ein gutes Stichwort für unser estatements. Denn diese Ausgabe ist die erste rein digitale Ausgabe unseres Kundenmagazins. Künftig werden wir Ihnen regelmäßig digital unsere Einblicke in den Immobilien- und Infrastruktur Markt geben.
This is just one of the articles from our thought leadership magazine, estatements. To access other content, take a look at the links below.
