Norton Rose Fulbright advises AirTrunk on landmark AU$850 million data centre financing
Australia | Press release - Business | August 9, 2018
Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has acted for AirTrunk, a specialist in hyperscale data centres, on the successful completion of an AU$850 million financing process to fund a major expansion of its Australian data centres in Sydney and Melbourne, and across key Asia-Pacific markets. The financing will be the largest by a data centre company in Australia to date.
Grant Samuel acted as financial adviser to AirTrunk in relation to the transaction.
Deutsche Bank is the lead arranger, underwriter and sole bookrunner for the new senior secured debt facilities.
Norton Rose Fulbright partner Chris Patten led the debt financing for AirTrunk and commented:
“We are delighted to have advised AirTrunk on this landmark financing and it was a pleasure working with the AirTrunk management team and Grant Samuel. This deal is a terrific example of the benefits of a competitive financing process and the flexible and scalable debt package is the latest example of product innovation in the Australian debt markets, drawing on traditional project finance and leveraged finance methodologies and bespoke features coming to market through the growth of unitranche and institutional lending in the region.
“We are thrilled to have contributed our cross-product and cross-border expertise to this transaction. We also congratulate Deutsche Bank and its counsel, Gilbert+Tobin on this outstanding result.”
Norton Rose Fulbright national head of corporate and M&A Shane Bilardi commented:
“We are proud to continue to support AirTrunk with this latest, crucial step in its phenomenal growth trajectory in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. This financing positions AirTrunk well as it continues to pursue its ambition to be the leader in hyperscale data centres for the region. This is also further evidence of our commitment to supporting emerging Australian technology companies.”
Norton Rose Fulbright’s team was led by banking and finance partner Chris Patten and corporate partner Shane Bilardi, with assistance from Grant Schulz (finance), Louise Kelly (finance), Marco Lagos (finance) and Felicity Young (finance), Ka-Chi Cheung (technology) and Sarah Wilson (corporate).
