Global law firm Dentons, as part of a legal team led by Kirkland & Ellis, represented private equity firm KKR and fund manager Global Infrastructure Partners, in a successful bid to acquire data center operator CyrusOne, Inc. This all-cash transaction valued at approximately US$15 billion, including the assumption of debt, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, subject to the completion of closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
CyrusOne is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that designs, builds and operates data centers. The company has 50 data centers across North America, South America and Europe, which serve more than 1,000 customers.
Partner Perry Zizzi and Evan Z. Lazar, Co-Chair of Dentons Global Real Estate Group, led and coordinated the cross-border project team of more than 90 Dentons lawyers from across four continents. The multi-competency team advised the client on real estate, employment, corporate and energy law in in Europe, Latin America and Singapore. The team leaders for each country included: Bruna Gobbi (Vella Pugliese Buosi e Guidoni Advogados, Brazil), José Manuel Larrain (Chile), Bernardo Cardenas (Colombia), Maxime Simonnet (France), Christoph Papenheim (advice on general data center law) and René Dubois (Germany), Andrew Muckian (Ireland), Rogelio Lopez-Velarde (Mexico), Pieter van Delden (Netherlands), Melanie Lim and Valerie Ong (Singapore), Itxaso López Diez and Bárbara Hernández-Mora (Spain), and Rob Thompson and Alex Coulter (UK).
Evan Z. Lazar said, “Due to the global scope of the transaction, we were called on to provide legal advice across eleven countries. As the world’s largest law firm, Dentons is ideally placed to support clients on investment transactions of this kind.”
Perry Zizzi added, “We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to support KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners on this high-value, strategic acquisition, which demonstrates our ability to provide high quality advice on the most complex transactions.”