Following its confirmed acquisition of Verizon’s 29 data centres, Equinix has borrowed $1.05bn to fund the $3.6bn transaction deal.
Keith Taylor, Chief financial officer, Equinix said: “Our ability to opportunistically access the European debt markets has enabled Equinix to secure low-cost, long-term funds for a portion of Equinix’s purchase of Verizon’s data centre sites and operations.”
The Term B-2 Loans each bear interest rate which is equal to EURIBOR plus a margin of 3.25 percent. Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as the lead left arranger for the transactions.
Taylor added: “This Euro-denominated debt also provides a natural hedge to protect the economic value of our European investments. Also, we’re delighted with the quality of investors that participated in this debt transaction and will work expeditiously to finance the remaining portion of the acquisition cost related to the Verizon asset acquisition.”
The Verizon acquisition is significant and described as a unique deal due to its size and scope. It includes 24 data centre sites and 29 data centre buildings across 15 wide areas.
The company also confirmed that the additional facilities and customers will boost the strength of its global platform by increasing interconnection in the United States and Latin America.
One of the facilities, located in Miami, allows the company to capture the growth within the Latin American market when combined with data centres in Bagota and NAP in Sao Paulo.
The transaction is expected to be completed by the middle of 2017, which after completion will give Equinix the benefit of gaining an additional 900 customers, a majority of which will be enterprises.
