Dutch lender ING announced on Thursday that it has closed one of the largest sustainability linked loans (SLL) to date for a UK data centre operator, Ark Data Centres.
The £700 mln (€843 mln) syndicated (SLL) will be used to build data centre infrastructure to continue Ark’s successful growth trajectory.
ING acted as structuring bank, lead co-ordinator and hedge-coordinator on the transaction. ING and Bank of America underwrote the transaction and acted as bookrunning mandated lead arrangers. ING and Crédit Agricole CIB were jointly appointed to act as SLL advisor to the company for this transaction.
The £700 mln financing was to partially fund expansion of Ark's data centre campuses and refinance the existing facility closed in 2019. The book was heavily oversubscribed, with interest from existing lenders, new banks, and institutional investors. NordLB, ABN Amro, Lloyds, Crédit Agricole CIB and HCOB acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers; Sabadell, NIBC and HSBC acted as Lead Arrangers and Investec as Arranger.
Ark operates three campuses with state-of-the-art facilities in Corsham, Farnborough and Enfield, with a further three campuses currently under development.
Sicco Boomsma, managing director within ING’s TMT sector financing team, said, 'This is one of the largest sustainability linked loans ever done for a UK data centre operator, another important milestone for the company and reflective of the way Ark has been positioning itself in the market as a leading sustainable data centre operator.'
Tina Pristovsek, director within the EMEA Real Estate Structured Finance team at Bank of America said: 'The transaction showcases Bank of America’s leading capabilities in the real estate structured finance field illustrating innovative ways we can support sustainable growth and investment plans of Ark, one of the UK’s pre-eminent data centre operators.'
