Savills and Augusta are acting jointly as co-exclusive financial advisers to Polarnode to provide corporate finance advice and project sales agency services.   

The multibillion euro investment in the Lappeenranta project ranks among the most significant single industrial projects in Finland’s history. Once fully built out, the campus will be one of Europe’s largest data centres purpose built for AI workloads.

Construction is already underway, with the first phase expected to become operational in 2027.  Once fully built, the campus will play a critical role in supporting the rapid growth of AI compute demand across Europe.

Mikko Toivanen, Chairman of Polarnode, commented: “We launched the business with the clear strategic aim of building a leading Nordic data centre platform and in the conviction that Finland is a natural hub for the rapid expansion of the sector. The Lappeenranta campus validates that vision. We thank Augusta and Savills for their highly resourceful support on this journey.”          

Lauri Ikonen, Polarnode’s Head of Technology, added: “Finland has the natural attributes that equip it to play a central role in the European DC sector. It offers clean energy at one of the lowest power prices in Europe, one of the most robust power transmission grids in the world and a cool climate that reduces the power needed for cooling. As the power-hungry data centre sector expands, Finland is uniquely placed to match demand with new renewable energy enabling operators to maintain carbon neutrality.”

Rupert Duckworth, Associate Director, Savills EMEA Data Centre Advisory, says: “This investment highlights the significant demand for data centre capacity within the Finnish market with the region benefitting from strong fundamentals including competitive energy costs and favourable climate conditions. Polarnode’s ability to efficiently navigate the permitting and grid application processes has accelerated time to market, with construction of the project already underway.”