DataBank Announces ~$2.0 Billion Equity Raise Led by $1.5 Billion Investment from AustralianSuper
Investment will grow and further diversify AustralianSuper's global digital infrastructure exposure and will fund the build-out of more than 850MW of data center capacity across DataBank's portfolio to meet accelerated demand for enterprise, cloud, and A.I. workloads.
DALLAS, MELBOURNE, Australia and BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- DataBank, a leading provider of enterprise-class edge colocation, interconnection, and managed services, today announced a $2.0 billion equity raise led by AustralianSuper, Australia's largest superannuation fund, which committed $1.5 billion. Upon closing of the transaction, AustralianSuper will become a significant minority owner of DataBank and will join the company's board of directors.
The capital raise was oversubscribed and, in addition to the $1.5 billion from AustralianSuper, included another $483 million in commitments from existing investors. The investment in DataBank would be AustralianSuper's first in the U.S. data center market and the second alongside existing DataBank investor DigitalBridge. AustralianSuper's global real assets portfolio now totals nearly $40 billion, and includes digital infrastructure assets across Australia, EMEA and South America.
Proceeds from the raise will be used to finance growth across DataBank's industry-leading footprint of 65+ data centers in 27+ markets, including the 3 new campuses it has announced in the past year: a 480MW campus in south Dallas, a 192MW campus in Culpeper, VA, and a 120MW campus in Atlanta. Those sites, as well as expansions in other markets, will add more than 850MW of power to DataBank's portfolio, more than tripling its existing 330MW of power deployed, and enabling it to meet unprecedented demand for A.I., hyperscale cloud, enterprise and large technology workloads.
"We are delighted to have AustralianSuper join our investors," said Raul Martynek, DataBank's CEO. "Along with the continued support of our existing investors, it's a vote of confidence in our strategy and our proven ability to execute and scale the DataBank platform. This investment, and our new campuses, are a game-changer for DataBank and our customers, allowing us to bring this capacity to market now and seize the incredible opportunity ahead of us."
"Our investment in DataBank comes at an exciting time in its growth trajectory with strong tailwinds across the sector, coupled with DataBank's ambitious expansion program and diverse business base," said Derek Chu, Head of American Real Assets at AustralianSuper. "We're delighted to be helping DataBank, and its experienced leadership team, capitalize on the unprecedented demand for cloud and AI infrastructure. DataBank will grow and further diversify our global digital infrastructure exposure, a sector we believe will help deliver sustainable, long-term performance for more than 3.4 million members."
"We're thrilled to welcome AustralianSuper as a key investor in DataBank," said Jon Mauck, Senior Managing Director at DigitalBridge. "DataBank's proven track record, expansion capacity, and strong leadership, position it to take full advantage of the tremendous market opportunities in the U.S. This investment highlights the resilience and long-term value of digital infrastructure as an asset class."
Together with this transaction, DataBank has raised more than $4.0 billion in debt and equity over the past 12 months, including a $725 million credit facility announced in April 2024, a $456 million securitization completed in February 2024, a $345 million construction loan signed in November 2023, and a $188 million equity investment completed in November 2023.
BofA Securities and Citizens Capital Markets Inc. acted as financial advisors for DataBank. Citi acted as financial advisor for AustralianSuper. Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to DataBank and Milbank LLP acted as legal counsel to AustralianSuper.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2024 subject to customary closing conditions.
About DataBank
DataBank helps the world's largest enterprises, technology, and content providers ensure their data and applications are always on, always secure, always compliant, and ready to scale to meet the needs of the artificial intelligence era. Recognized by Deloitte in 2023 and Inc. 5000 in 2024 as one of the fastest-growing private US companies, DataBank's edge colocation and infrastructure footprint consists of 65+ "HPC-ready" data centers in 27+ markets, 20 interconnection hubs, and on-ramps to an ecosystem of cloud providers with virtually unlimited reach. We combine these platforms with contract portability, managed security, compliance enablement, hands-on support, and a guarantee of 100% uptime availability, to give our customers absolute confidence in their IT infrastructure and the power to create a boundless digital future for their business. To learn more, Follow us on LinkedIn or Subscribe to our YouTube channel. To tour a facility, visit DataBank or call 1(800) 840-7533.
About AustralianSuper
AustralianSuper manages more than $228 billion (A$342 billion) in members' retirement savings on behalf of more than 3.4 million members from more than 478,000 businesses (as at 30 June 2024). The Fund is an active investor across global financial markets, real assets, private credit and private equity, with the aim of delivering sustainable, long-term performance for its members. AustralianSuper is the 16th largest pension fund in the world by total assets, and the fastest-growing among the global top 20 (Thinking Ahead Institute, Global Top 300 Pension Funds, based on 5-year CAGR 2019-2024). For more information, visit: www.australiansuper.com
About DigitalBridge
DigitalBridge (NYSE:DBRG) is a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure. With a heritage of over 25 years investing in and operating businesses across the digital ecosystem including cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells and edge infrastructure, the DigitalBridge team manages over $84 billion portfolio of digital infrastructure assets on behalf of its limited partners and shareholders. For more information, visit: www.digitalbridge.com.
References to "AustralianSuper" or "the Fund" in this document are taken to mean AustralianSuper Pty Ltd, the AustralianSuper superannuation fund, AustralianSuper (UK) Ltd (UK company number 09949713, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority –Reference No 741471), AustralianSuper (US) LLC (a Delaware Limited Liability Company, file number 7398158), AustralianSuper Research Pty Ltd (ABN 82 105 638 319, a Beijing Representative Office) and any/or other related bodies corporate of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd.
Information included in this document is of a general nature only.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the details contained herein are correct and up-to-date, this information does not constitute legal or other professional advice. We do not accept any responsibility, legal or otherwise, for any error or omission.
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SOURCE DataBank