Aligned, a leading data center provider offering innovative, sustainable and adaptable colocation and build-to-scale solutions for cloud, enterprise, and managed service providers, announced the establishment of a newly-created data center ABS platform and the issuance of $1.35 billion in securitized notes thereunder, which is the largest-ever inaugural data center securitization. The securitized notes also hold the distinction of being the first-ever green data center securitization, which has been issued under the Aligned Green Finance Framework, and externally verified by Sustainalytics.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Aligned issued $1.35 billion of securitized notes, including $1.05 billion of term notes that are rated investment grade at A- by Standard & Poor’s, $150 million of term notes that are rated investment grade at BBB by Standard & Poor’s, and $150 million variable funding notes that are rated investment grade at A- by Standard & Poor’s. Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as sole structuring advisor and joint active bookrunning manager for the securitized notes. Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and Wells Fargo Securities also acted as joint active bookrunning managers for the term notes. Aligned engaged ING as sustainability agent and co-manager, and Citi, Citizens Capital Markets, Nomura, and TD Securities as co-managers for the term notes.
“Aligned’s issuance of $1.35 billion in securitized notes, the largest-ever inaugural, and industry-first green data center securitization, represents yet another major milestone in a series for our organization,” states Anubhav Raj, CFO, Aligned. “We’re grateful to our financial advisors and relationship banks whose confidence in Aligned’s ability to continuously innovate and solve the challenges of data center sustainability will help actualize future green data center development and market expansion as we experience surging demand.”
Last month, Aligned increased its senior secured credit facility, the first-ever U.S. data center sustainability-linked financing, by $250 million to $1.25 billion. The company successfully exceeded all the requirements of the initial $1 billion sustainability-linked credit facility issued in September 2020. Aligned’s sustainability-linked financing is tied to the company’s core environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including a commitment to match 100% of Aligned’s annual energy consumption to zero-carbon renewable energy by 2024.
Aligned’s sustainable finance initiatives provide the capacity to support the growth of its data center portfolio, including by acquiring land in key U.S. and international regions for new builds and by expanding existing data center campuses. Concurrent with the issuance of the $1.35 billion in securitized notes, Aligned closed on an additional $375 million sustainability-linked loan, bringing the total to $1.725 billion of committed financing obtained today. Wells Fargo Securities, TD Securities, and Citizens Bank acted as joint bookrunners and joint lead arrangers for the facility. Aligned engaged ING as sustainability structuring agent and TD Securities as sustainability agent.
“We believe that sustainability isn’t a passing trend; it’s a competitive advantage to modern data center operation and a key pillar of our customers’ success,” says Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned. “Furthermore, we’re very fortunate to have leading financial institutions in our corner whose business ethos complements our vision of environmentally responsible data center infrastructure, and transparency and accountability in targeting — and exceeding — our long-term sustainability goals.”