CSC’s interest was acquired by CDC’s existing co-shareholders, The Future Fund and Infratil, under their pre-emptive rights, following a competitive international sales process conducted by CSC.
CSC has over 100 years’ experience in providing superannuation services to employees of the Australian Government and members of the Australian Defence Force. Almost a decade ago, CSC was the first Australian superannuation fund to recognise data centres as critical infrastructure for the digital future, CSC has achieved very strong returns of almost 43% per year since inception of its investment in CDC.
Following completion of the transaction (which is subject to certain regulatory approvals), CSC will continue to own 12.04% of CDC.
CDC is the pre-eminent provider of sovereign, highly secure, and connected large-scale data centres, serving sectors critical to security, social, and economic wellbeing, including government and national critical infrastructure, research and education, hyperscale and artificial intelligence. With a total of 2.5GW of capacity across its operational, under construction and development pipeline, CDC is a strategic data centre provider of global scale and a long-term partner to the largest and most important organisations in the world that drive progress.
G+T’s team was led by Corporate Advisory Partner David Josselsohn, working with lawyers Ankita Singh, Alex Fielden and Jack Stephens. The Corporate Advisory team was supported by specialists throughout the firm.
Commenting on the transaction, David said:
We are proud to have advised CSC on this significant transaction which will support CDC’s strategic direction and long-term growth in delivering high-quality digital infrastructure. The transaction is testament to the growth of CDC through the support of its existing shareholders, Commonwealth Super, The Future Fund and Infratil and the CDC management team led by CEO Greg Boorer.
Gilbert + Tobin is extensively involved in super fund related transactions, including the recent transactions of the National Employment Savings trust acquisition in IFM investors, the ISPT merger with IFM Investors, the ongoing transaction of KKR to acquire Perpetual’s corporate trust and wealth management businesses, including their superannuation offerings, and numerous private equity investments and climate related strategies for super funds.
