Latham & Watkins and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett have taken lead roles on a multi-billion dollar data centre deal that will see EQT take ownership of Carlyle’s power and AI infrastructure business Copia Power.
Copia Power, which develops power and data centre infrastructure across the US, was established by Carlyle in 2021, and Carlyle has now reached a deal to sell the business for $2.6bn to Swedish private equity group EQT.
Latham advised Carlyle, with a team drawn from across its US offices. Leading the deal is global vice chair of the firm’s M&A and PE practice, James Garrett, based in Houston, and corporate partners Ethan Schultz, based in Washington DC, and Dan Sinaiko, based in Los Angeles.
The team also includes tax partner Michael Zucker in Chicago, project finance partner Seth Richardson in San Diego, environment partner Joshua Marnitz, based in Los Angeles and Houston, and co-chair of the interdisciplinary data centre team Nikki Buffa in Orange County.
Power regulatory partner Tyler Brown, Legal 500 employee benefits: transactional Hall of Famer David Della Rocca, antitrust partners Ian Conner and Peter Todaro, and regulatory partner Les Carnegie advised from Latham’s DC office.
Labour and employment partner Sandy Benjamin, based in New York, chair of the Boston finance department Susan Parker, and global vice chair of the firm’s privacy and cyber security practice Robert Brown, in Houston, also advised on the deal.
Simpson Thacher acted for EQT, with a team led by M&A partners Fred de Albuquerque, from the firm’s San Francisco and Palo Alto offices, and Brian Chisling, in New York.
Energy and infrastructure partners Javad Asghari, based in Los Angeles and New York, Gabriel Silva in New York, and tax partners Jonathan Goldstein and Brian Mendick, both in New York, also advised.
EQT’s acquisition of Copia Power comes at a time when the PE giant has been reviewing its key global advisers, with Simpson Thacher among the firms that made the cut.
This is the second data centre deal Simpson Thacher has worked on this week, as the firm also advised Pure Data Centres on its joint venture with SEGRO to develop a data centre in Paris. The JV is expected to generate around £800m in capital.
The firm’s London managing partner Wheatly MacNamara and real estate partner Luca Sportelli led the transaction, with tax partner Sarah Lindley also on the team.
Slaughter and May advised SEGRO on the Paris data centre JV, with a team led by corporate partners Sally Wokes and Jack Wharton. Tax partner Mike Lane, finance partner Kevin Howes, real estate partner Simon Bartle, and head of environment and climate change Samantha Brady, also advised.
Both firms also advised on PDC and SEGRO’s London JV, which created a data centre in London’s Park Royal this March, valued at £1bn.
