Aligned increases secured credit facility with US$250mn loan
Aligned Energy, a leading data centre provider offering innovative, sustainable, and adaptable colocation and build-to-scale solutions, has announced it has increased the value of its secured credit facility to US$1.25bn after securing a US$250mn sustainability-linked loan. Joint book-runners and leaders for the facility included TD Securities (USA), Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Deutsche Bank AG, New York Branch, Wells Fargo Securities, Citizens Bank, and Nomura Securities International.
The loan aims to allow the company to achieve its sustainability goals which include matching 100% of the company's annual energy consumption to zero-carbon renewable energy by 2024; greater transparency in its sustainability best practices; and worker safety goals with a low Total Recordable Incident Rate. If met, these goals would result in a lower interest rate on the loan, Aligned claims.
Funding for sustainability commitments and expanding its data centre portfolio
Anubhav Raj, Chief Financial Officer of Aligned, says the increase in value of the credit facility will help contribute to expanding the company’s data centre portfolio and funding for sustainability commitments. “Aligned’s credit facility upsizing will provide increased financial capacity and flexibility to support the expansion of our data centre portfolio in step with rising demand and further development of our core sustainability initiatives. Our company’s position is that an investment in digital infrastructure requires an investment in sustainability, which is essential to a positive, lasting impact on our environment as well as long-term value creation”.
Aligned announced this week that it had met and exceeded the core environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives for its previous loan secured in September last year, meaning it was able to secure the extra US$250mn capital.
Outlining a concern for the business, Andrew Schaap, Chief Executive Officer of Aligned, said: “Among sophisticated hyperscale and enterprise companies, sound environmental stewardship is now a top-of-mind concern. While no one company or organization can solve the world’s sustainability challenges, Aligned’s adaptive data centre platform is instrumental in reducing environmental impact while lowering the total cost of ownership for customers - a win-win - and it’s gratifying that our relationship banks and investors recognize this by facilitating our ability to respond to continuously increasing demand”.
