Magnora Data Center ASA (MDATA) has agreed to buy a 50% stake in the Risti Kampus data center project in western Estonia. The joint venture partner is Sunly AS, an integrated energy infrastructure company that is also building the solar, battery and wind capacity next to the site.
MDATA's initial share is 50/50, with an option to increase its stake to 75%. Under the joint venture, Sunly will lead local execution, permitting and energy-related development at the site, while MDATA will lead commercial strategy, positioning and customer engagement.
Site and power
Risti sits 60 km south of Tallinn and 150 km south of Helsinki. The campus is planned for 180 MW in its first phase, with room to expand to 400 MW subject to substation upgrades. A substation with 180 MW of capacity is already available at the site, and zoning and cable route rights are being secured.
The campus can connect both to the power grid and directly to Sunly's adjacent energy park, which includes 244 MWp of solar, 144 MW of battery storage and 44 MW of wind capacity in development.
Connectivity
Risti sits on a high-speed fiber route that links Tallinn and Helsinki directly to Frankfurt, one of Europe's largest internet hubs. Round-trip fiber latency to Helsinki is under 5 milliseconds.
The partners
Erik Sneve, chairman of Magnora Data Center ASA, said the company expects "time-efficient project development" at Risti, pointing to the site's access to renewable energy, connectivity and scalability. Priit Lepasepp, chief executive of Sunly, said the campus "ties all of this into a single system" alongside the company's solar, battery and planned wind projects at the same location.
Sunly has developed 1,000 MW of renewable-energy capacity since 2019, now operating or under construction, and also sells electricity and heat to private and business customers while trading electricity on Nord Pool. Its investors include Mirova, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, KLP, Vardar, the European Investment Bank, mBank and Rivage Investments. The company has around 200 employees and projects across wind, solar and battery storage in the Baltics and Poland.
MDATA develops data center projects and owns selected data center operations in Northern Europe and Italy. It was spun off from Magnora ASA and listed separately on Euronext Growth Oslo in June 2026, becoming the first pure-play data center share listed on a European stock exchange. Magnora ASA owns 52.7% of MDATA, which the company says gives it the balance sheet to secure strategic positions and finance projects through to investment decisions.
Why Estonia
MDATA pointed to Estonia's ranking of 19th out of 216 countries on institutional quality from the World Bank, and to the country's target of 100% renewable electricity consumption by 2030. The company also noted Estonia's climate, comparable to Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo at a similar latitude, and its standing in cybersecurity and in drawing foreign investment into digital infrastructure.
