Data Center Services

Insight

The Rise of Digital Infrastructure - Data Centers

In this era of rapid digitalization, the physical structures that facilitate the efficient processing of data are playing critical roles in accelerating global economic growth.

We understand the complex, technical and operational issues around data centers. They are a mission-critical component of any business, and can present a range of complex real estate, IT, power and environmental challenges that can be difficult to navigate through. Whether you are interested in the development, leasing/licensing, financing, or purchase or sale of a data center or colocation facility, it is no simple transaction, and requires an informed and holistic approach.

We are very uniquely positioned in the market to bring this expertise and experience to owners, investors and occupants. With our practice depth in real estate, IT, project finance, tax, energy, regulatory and data security, our truly global reach, and our local know how, no other firm can provide the same expertise as we can.

We advise clients on legal issues relevant to data centers, including:

Data Center M&A, PE and Transactions - Mergers and acquisitions and investments involving data center assets, operations and related infrastructure, including foreign investment screening in relevant jurisdictions and dealing with increasing government concerns on data security. We treat a data center as a core-plus infrastructure transaction rather than as a real estate deal.
Data Center Funds and REITs - Formation and development of REITS, fund vehicles, joint ventures and other platforms investing into data centers
Co-location, Leasing and Licensing - Drafting and negotiation of the terms of major customer contracts, particularly for hyperscale. This includes reviewing the scope of any service level agreements and associated penalties.
Data Center Infrastructure - Requirements for building a data center beginning with securing real estate leases or acquisition of land, foreign investment and other compliance requirements, negotiation of power supply agreements, and dealing with other matters such as security issues involving the access and restricted access to data center facilities, fire prevention and emergency response issues, provisioning for UPS (uninterrupted power supply) or backup power including battery servicing and replacement and testing regime for the UPS services, and developing strict requirements for testing and the commissioning of data centers at handover during data center construction. We also assist in issues involving technological and evolutionary changes over the life of the data center facility and undertaking "technical refresh" of the data center facilities overtime.
Renewable Energy and Sustainability - Applications for government incentives, responding to green procurement requirements and managing environmental impact changes, and review of availability of renewables.