Data Centers

Overview

Alston & Bird’s Data Center Team understands the complex technical and unique operational issues you face daily. We represent data center developers, investors, operators, lenders, and other related companies throughout the entire life cycle of a data center project. 

Using our expertise in investment funds, finance, securitization, real estate, M&A, construction, cybersecurity, environmental and land use, IP, and data privacy, we provide a comprehensive approach to your data center transactions.

We know the data center industry’s needs and requirements, from wholesale/hyperscale and colocation to enterprise, including information storage, property needs, power and cooling supply, and redundancy requirements.

We assist with developing and acquiring data centers around the globe, working with prominent investment funds, financial institutions, REITs, and some of the largest data center operators in transactions involving the construction, financing, and leasing of facilities.

Experience

Please follow the links provided for our representative experience in:

Corporate Finance

• Advised the administrative agent on a $100 million second-lien financing of a data center operator.
• Advised the administrative agent on a $50 million debt financing and preferred equity financing of a data center operator.
• Advised the administrative agent on a $30 million financing of a data center operator.
• Represented an international banking and financial products firm in the financing of the acquisition and development of a large data center in the London Docklands.
• Represented a global data center developer in its $50 million revolving credit facility.

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Data Privacy, Cybersecurity, IP & Restructuring

• Advised a global shipping and logistics solutions company on data and IT issues related to a potential data center engagement.
• Defended a leader in optical communications solutions for data centers in patent infringement actions.
• Represented an ad hoc creditor group in the liability management transaction and Chapter 11 restructuring of a prominent data center.

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Investment Funds

• Represented a leading data center developer, operator, and DMaaS provider in its recapitalization by a global investment management firm to accelerate the global expansion of the client’s data center portfolio.
• Represented an evergreen global core-plus data center fund that acquires hyperscale data centers, including from an affiliated developer (currently deploying approximately $3 billion), in fundraising.
• Represented a public company that develops data centers in North America in the formation of a bitcoin mining fund.

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Structured Finance & Securitization

• Represented the initial purchasers of securitization notes backed by data center revenue in six issuances totaling $2.5 billion.
• Represented a data center company in its inaugural $1.15 billion and C$883.4 million Canadian data center securitizations.
• Represented an initial purchaser of the first securitization notes backed by data center revenue to earn an A+ rating in an $800 million issuance.
• Designated investor’s counsel to investors in securitization notes backed by the revenue of a build-to-suit, single-tenant data center.
• Representing an international rating agency in its review, analysis, and rating of multiple structured data center financings, including master trust secured revenue term notes and CMBS commercial real estate securitizations.

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M&A & Private Equity

• Represented a private equity fund in its acquisition of a national provider of services for data center infrastructure and servers.
• Represented the purchaser in the $53 million acquisition of a provider of dark fiber metro networks and the related owner of data center/colocation facilities.
• Represented a data center owner and operator in its sale of controlling interest to a global asset management firm.
• Represented a private equity firm in the sale of a leading provider of post-warranty data center equipment maintenance services to a New York–based private equity investment firm.
• Represented a private equity firm and its portfolio company, a provider of fiber/data center infrastructure solutions, in a $600 million sale.
• Represented a private equity sponsor in the sale of its portfolio company, a provider of telecom and data center services, to a telecom company.
• Represented a private equity sponsor and its portfolio company, a data center operator, in its merger with a cloud services provider.
• Represented a private equity sponsor in the sale of its portfolio company, a provider of managed IT operations, application hosting, and comprehensive managed cloud services, to a telecom company.
• Represented a private equity sponsor in its investment in a B2B provider of technology solutions and managed and cloud services that relied on data centers and leased rack space. Also represented the company in multiple add-on acquisitions and later exit.

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Real Estate & Development

• Advising a hyperscale data center developer and operator with documenting and negotiating its $1.1 billion property tax incentive transaction with the local county’s independent economic development agency for the benefit of the tenant, a global cloud services company.
• Advised administrative agents and bank groups in the construction financing of build-to-suit, single-tenant data centers in Quincy, WA and Santa Clara, CA.
• Advised the borrower in the construction financing of a build-to-suit, single-tenant data center in Northern Virginia.
• Advised the administrative agent in the $160 million construction financing of a single-tenant data center.
• Advised the administrative agent and bank group in the syndicated term financing of colocation data centers in Silicon Valley, Chicago, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Portland, OR.
• Represented the lender in the negotiation of leases and other documentation for the construction of build-to-suit, single-tenant data centers intended to be securitized.
• Represented a Fortune 500 company in the negotiation of long-term leases of build-to-suit data centers.

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Construction

• Defended a construction design firm in an action involving the alleged negligent engineering design of a mixed-use data center in San Jose.
• Provided general corporate and transactional support, including negotiating and drafting agreements, for a leading EPC contractor specializing in data center construction.
• Advised one of the world’s largest development and construction companies on various data center construction issues.
• Advised an energy producer developing a behind-the-meter gas-fired power plant to provide dedicated power for a data center in Georgia.

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