North American data centre operator Aligned has secured a total to US$1.725 billion of committed financing to be tied to the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including a commitment to match 100% of Aligned’s annual energy consumption to zero-carbon renewable energy by 2024.

Firstly, the company has reported the issuance of $1.35 billion in securitised notes thereunder issued under the Aligned Green Finance Framework. This is the largest-ever inaugural data centre securitisation, the company said.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Aligned issued $1.35 billion of securitised notes, including $1.05 billion of term notes that are rated investment grade at A- by Standard & Poor’s, $150 million of term notes that are rated investment grade at BBB by Standard & Poor’s, and $150 million variable funding notes that are rated investment grade at A- by Standard & Poor’s.

Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as sole structuring advisor and joint active bookrunning manager for the securitised notes. Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and Wells Fargo Securities also acted as joint active bookrunning managers for the term notes.

Aligned engaged ING as sustainability agent and co-manager, and Citi, Citizens Capital Markets, Nomura, and TD Securities as co-managers for the term notes.

Anubhav Raj, CFO, Aligned, said: “Aligned’s issuance of $1.35 billion in securitized notes, the largest-ever inaugural, and industry-first green data centre securitisation, represents yet another major milestone in a series for our organisation.

“We are grateful to our financial advisors and relationship banks whose confidence in Aligned’s ability to continuously innovate and solve the challenges of data centre sustainability will help actualise future green data centre development and market expansion as we experience surging demand.”

Last month, Aligned increased its senior secured credit facility by $250 million to $1.25 billion.

Concurrent with the issuance of the $1.35 billion in securitised notes, Aligned closed on an additional $375 million sustainability-linked loan, bringing the total to $1.725 billion of committed financing obtained.

Wells Fargo Securities, TD Securities, and Citizens Bank acted as joint bookrunners and joint lead arrangers for the facility. Aligned engaged ING as sustainability structuring agent and TD Securities as sustainability agent.

Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned, said: “We believe that sustainability isn’t a passing trend; it’s a competitive advantage to modern data centre operation and a key pillar of our customers’ success.

“Furthermore, we are very fortunate to have leading financial institutions in our corner whose business ethos complements our vision of environmentally responsible data centre infrastructure, and transparency and accountability in targeting — and exceeding — our long-term sustainability goals.”