Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie has advised Equinix Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company, on an agreement to form a US$525 million joint venture with GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. The joint venture will allow for the development and operation of two xScale data centres in Seoul, Korea.
The two facilities in the joint venture, to be named SL2x and SL3x, are expected to provide more than 45 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to serve the unique core workload deployment needs of hyperscale companies, including the world's largest cloud service providers.
Baker McKenzie's international team worked alongside the Equinix APAC legal team, and the Korean firm Kim & Chang. The Baker McKenzie team was led by London corporate partners David Hart and Kirsty Wilson, with associate support from Claire Guthrie, Elliot Ryan and Simone Blackadder. Baker McKenzie Singapore partner Eunice Tan provided Singapore regulatory advice. The Kim & Chang team was led by partner Arnold Yoo-Hum Baek.
Commenting on the transaction, David said:
"Being part of this transaction, and the ongoing expansion of the Equinix xScale program, in this case into Korea, was an exciting experience. It gives us great pleasure to partner with Equinix once again to help make this happen."
The deal is the latest example of a high profile transaction Baker McKenzie has worked on with Equinix. In October 2021, the Firm advised Equinix on the creation of a US$575 million joint venture with PGIM Real Estate, the real estate investment and financing arm of Prudential Financial’s global asset management business, to develop and operate two xScale data centres in Sydney, Australia. In June 2021, the Firm represented Equinix on its US$3.9 billion joint venture with GIC, to develop and operate 17 xScale data centres across EMEA and South and Central America. In April 2020, the same Baker McKenzie team advised Equinix on its US$1 billion joint venture with GIC, to develop and operate xScale data centres in Japan. A similar deal was signed in 2019 to operate xScale data centres in Europe.
The two facilities in the joint venture, to be named SL2x and SL3x, are expected to provide more than 45 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to serve the unique core workload deployment needs of hyperscale companies, including the world's largest cloud service providers.
Baker McKenzie's international team worked alongside the Equinix APAC legal team, and the Korean firm Kim & Chang. The Baker McKenzie team was led by London corporate partners David Hart and Kirsty Wilson, with associate support from Claire Guthrie, Elliot Ryan and Simone Blackadder. Baker McKenzie Singapore partner Eunice Tan provided Singapore regulatory advice. The Kim & Chang team was led by partner Arnold Yoo-Hum Baek.
Commenting on the transaction, David said:
"Being part of this transaction, and the ongoing expansion of the Equinix xScale program, in this case into Korea, was an exciting experience. It gives us great pleasure to partner with Equinix once again to help make this happen."
The deal is the latest example of a high profile transaction Baker McKenzie has worked on with Equinix. In October 2021, the Firm advised Equinix on the creation of a US$575 million joint venture with PGIM Real Estate, the real estate investment and financing arm of Prudential Financial’s global asset management business, to develop and operate two xScale data centres in Sydney, Australia. In June 2021, the Firm represented Equinix on its US$3.9 billion joint venture with GIC, to develop and operate 17 xScale data centres across EMEA and South and Central America. In April 2020, the same Baker McKenzie team advised Equinix on its US$1 billion joint venture with GIC, to develop and operate xScale data centres in Japan. A similar deal was signed in 2019 to operate xScale data centres in Europe.
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