DLA Piper advises HMC Capital in US$2.74 billion REIT IPO and three US-based data centers

DLA Piper advised HMC Capital, an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed alternative asset manager, in launching DigiCo Infrastructure REIT, a new digital infrastructure real estate trust focused on data center assets in Australia and the US. The fully underwritten IPO is valued at US$2.74 billion, making it Australia’s largest IPO of the year and the largest since 2018.

The DigiCo REIT includes three US-based data centers: a US$712 million data center under construction in Chicago, IL, which is fully leased to a leading global hyperscale customer and was sold by a joint venture between Prologis and Skybox Data Centers; a US$98 million existing data center in Richardson, TX; and a US$150 million existing data center in Olathe, KS, both of which are fully to leased to a high investment grade North American financial institution;

“The demand for digital infrastructure continues to increase alongside the dynamic advancements in high-performance computing and modern technology. It was an honor working with HMC Capital and combining our extensive real estate industry experience and capabilities to bring these data center deals together,” said Michael Rechtin, the DLA Piper partner who led the deal team. “On behalf of the DLA Piper team, we send our congratulations to HMC Capital.”

In addition to Rechtin (Chicago), the DLA Piper team included partners Kaila Sergent (Los Angeles), Brian Fielden (Atlanta) and Andrew Cooper (Washington, DC); of counsels Nia M. Brown (Washington, DC) and Scott Josephson (Chicago); and associates Chrisdo Fan (Los Angeles) and Chris Henry (Washington, DC).

With approximately 200 real estate lawyers in the US and 500 globally, DLA Piper's market-leading Real Estate practice offers a full range of real estate services, including acquisitions and sales, single asset, programmatic and operating company joint ventures, real estate fund formation, public and private REITs, financing, zoning and development, construction and design, leasing and restructuring and workouts. The firm executes hundreds of transactions every year, ranging from billon-dollar-plus transactions to the acquisition, financing, joint venture formation, leasing and sale of individual properties.