Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company, today announced that it priced €1.1 billion principal amount of notes across two tranches in its second green bond offering. The green bonds will be used to help advance the company’s longstanding commitment to sustainability leadership and reducing its environmental impact. The offering is expected to close on March 10, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
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The €500 million 0.250% Senior Notes due 2027 and €600 million 1.000% Senior Notes due 2033 have a weighted average interest cost of 0.66%, representing a 2.215% reduction in cost relative to Equinix’s existing Euro-denominated Senior Notes.
Equinix intends to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds from the offering to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, recently completed or future Eligible Green Projects, with disbursements covering project expenditures for up to two years preceding the issuance date of the notes and until and including the maturity date of the notes, including the development and redevelopment of such projects. Pending allocation, Equinix expects to use approximately €509.4 million of the net proceeds from this offering to fund the redemption of all of its outstanding 2.875% 2026 Euro Senior Notes, including the payment of the premium and accrued interest to the redemption date and the balance for working capital and other general corporate purposes. The refinancing will result in €11.1 million of annual interest savings.
For the offering of the bonds, Barclays Bank PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, HSBC Bank plc, and ING Bank N.V. served as joint book-running managers, Merrill Lynch International, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities plc, MUFG Securities EMEA plc, RBC Europe Limited, SMBC Nikko Capital Markets Limited, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, BNP Paribas, Mizuho International plc, Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, Scotiabank Europe plc, PNC Capital Markets LLC, U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities International Limited served as bookrunners. ING served as sole Green Structuring Advisor.
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Highlights/Key Facts
- In conjunction with its inaugural green bond offering in Q3 2020, Equinix developed a Green Finance Framework based on the Green Bond Principles and Green Loan Principles, a set of guidelines that promote transparency and integrity in, and advance the standardization of, green debt disclosures. As outlined in Equinix’s Green Finance Framework, an amount equal to the net proceeds of the green bonds will be allocated to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, recently completed or future Eligible Green Projects in categories such as green buildings, renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable water and wastewater management, waste management and clean transportation that are expected to deliver benefits to Equinix and its shareholders.
The Framework will increase Equinix’s focus on protecting the environment and addressing global climate change through greenhouse gas emissions reductions, increasing resource efficiency and driving corporate transparency and accountability. - Equinix continues to advance its green initiatives through its recent support of the new Climate Neutral Data Centre Operator Pact and Self-Regulatory Initiative. The Pact marks the first time the data center industry has come together to solidify its commitment to ensure that European data centers are carbon neutral by 2030.
- Until an amount equal to the net proceeds from the green bonds has been fully allocated, Equinix will report annually through an allocation and impact report on the use of such funds and their environmental impacts. The report will be published on Equinix’s Corporate Sustainability website. Sustainalytics, a leading global provider of ESG research, ratings and data, issued a second-party opinion on the environmental benefits of Equinix’s Green Finance Framework as well as its alignment with the Green Bond Principles and Green Loan Principles.
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- Keith Taylor, Chief Financial Officer, Equinix
“Equinix is committed to accelerating our momentum and investment in greening our data center footprint, delivering wide-reaching environmental benefits for not only ourselves and our communities but also our global customers. The Green Bond is one of the many tools we’re using to advance our environmental sustainability initiatives and continue to make progress towards achieving our ambitious sustainability goals.”
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