Tesh Durvasula, interim president and CEO of CyrusOne Inc. (Nasdaq: CONE), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITweek: Virtual Investor Conference (held June 2-4).
Durvasula commented on the first quarter, during which the REIT recorded its second highest leasing volume. “We’re pleased with our start, but we’re cautiously optimistic about the rest of the year,” he said.
Turning to CyrusOne’s increasing focus on Europe, Durvasula said, “this has been, strategically, one of the best moves we’ve ever made.”
Last year marked the first full year of operations for the Zenium Data Center assets in Germany and the U.K., which CyrusOne announced it intended to purchase at the end of 2017. European regulations, however, meant that CyrusOne couldn’t operate the assets until September 2018.
Between the two Zenium sites and two sites CyrusOne developed organically in London and Amsterdam, the REIT created a four city platform, “and we were off to the races,” Durvasula said.
By the end of 2021, Europe will be about 16% of overall business, Durvasula said. “We’re really excited about what we’ve been able to do in Europe,” he added.
Looking more broadly, Durvasula commented that while the data center industry’s infrastructure “should survive really well during this pandemic,” if unemployment doesn’t drop to single digits, “it’s still going to be a pretty bumpy flight.”