Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised Yondr Group, a global developer, owner and operator of hyperscale data centres, on the international aspects of its more than US$900 million debt financing for the construction and initial operation of the company’s 98MW hyperscale data centre which is part of a larger data centre development in Johor, Malaysia.
Once completed, the wider development in Johor’s Sedenak Tech Park is set to deliver up to 340MW of critical IT capacity and will be the largest hyperscale data centre campus in South East Asia.
The deal represents Yondr’s first major debt financing in the region, secured through a special exemption granted by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) that enables the company to bypass the usual approval process for foreign currency borrowings from Bank Negara Malaysia.
A consortium of lenders, including DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Global Infrastructure Partners (a part of Blackrock), HSBC, International Finance Corporation (IFC), ING and Natixis CIB are providing the loan facility to Yondr Group.
Partner Thomas England who led the transaction, said, “We are thrilled to advise Yondr on securing the complex financing for the first phase of its landmark hyperscale data centre project, which will be a benchmark for other similar financings in the region. This transaction also marks the start of an exciting wave of data centre development in Malaysia, driven by the accelerating demands of technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud computing and blockchain”.
Thomas was supported by counsel Chin Seng Chew and Jervis Chan, and associate Ivan Ting. Partner Matthew Buchanan, senior associate James Thornton and associate Thomas Hobbs Martin advised on the construction aspects. Partner Francis Edwards and senior associate Leland Hui advised on the derivatives aspects.
Rahmat Lim & Partners acted as Malaysian local counsel to Yondr.
Yondr is a key player in the digital infrastructure sector, addressing the complex data centre capacity demands of the world’s largest technology companies through the development and operation of sustainable data centres worldwide. The company has more than 420MW of capacity committed to hyperscalers, with significant additional land to support a total potential capacity of over 1GW.
Clifford Chance has advised on some of the largest and most significant transactions involving digital infrastructure in Asia Pacific, including the AU$2.12 billion sale of Global Switch Australia comprising data centre assets, the US$3.9 billion financing of Dito’s 4G and 5G telecommunications network development in the Philippines and the US$213 million senior debt facility to finance AdaniConneX’s data centre asset portfolio in India.
