Stuart Cormack

Biography

Stuart is a partner and co-leads our Real Assets team.

He advises on market-shaping financings across the real assets sector, with a focus on digital infrastructure, infrastructure, transport, utilities, energy and adjacent asset-backed sectors.

Since 2018, Stuart has led the G+T team which has helped close more than $50 billion of data centre debt issuance across almost all major Australian platforms, cementing the Real Assets team’s position as Australia’s leading data centre debt financing practice.

He acts for sponsors, corporates, banks and non-bank lenders on acquisition, development, refinancing, corporate and platform, sustainability-linked and green financing transactions.

Stuart is regularly sought out for strategically important mandates where clients need deep sector knowledge, a commercial approach and the ability to structure and execute complex transactions. He is known in the market for getting deals done, whatever it takes.

He combines specialist asset-class insight with practical financing execution to help clients structure, negotiate and deliver complex real asset transactions.

Experience

Stuart’s experience includes advising:

  • Lenders to AirTrunk on all its Australian debt raisings, and various Asia-Pacific debt raisings, since 2018, including supporting Blackstone and CPPIB’s $24 billion acquisition of AirTrunk and funding its Asia-Pacific data centre development and capital expenditure expansion program, comprising more than $33 billion of debt issuance.

  • CDC Data Centres on all its Australian and New Zealand debt raisings since 2019 (including US private placement issuances) to fund its data centre development and capital expenditure expansion program, comprising more than $16 billion of debt issuance.

  • STACK Infrastructure APAC on all its Australian debt financing arrangements since its entry into Australia in 2022 to fund its data centre development and capital expenditure expansion programme, comprising more than $8 billion of debt issuance.

  • Starwood Capital Group on the financing provided to support Blackstone’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Hamilton Island, the largest acquisition of a hospitality asset in Australia in several years.

  • Sembcorp on a landmark $3.1 billion club facility to support its approximately $6.5 billion acquisition of the Alinta group.

  • The mandated lead arrangers and underwriting banks on the acquisition financing for ESR to fund its $3.8 billion acquisition of the 45-property Milestone Logistics Portfolio from Blackstone, the largest direct real estate acquisition transaction completed in the Australian market at the time.

  • Various lenders in connection with the acquisition financing for Blackstone’s $8.9 billion acquisition of shares in the Crown Resorts Group by way of scheme of arrangement.

  • The bank and debt investor syndicates in respect of the Sydney Desalination Plant, in relation to all of its Australian debt issuance since its privatisation in 2012, including an institutional Asian term loan, comprising over $5 billion in debt issuance.

  • The lenders to Snowy Hydro on various corporate debt facilities and its $3.5 billion debt facilities in connection with the Snowy 2.0 development, and subsequent debt issuance.

  • The syndicate of lenders in respect of the Port of Newcastle, in relation to all of its Australian debt issuance since its privatisation in 2014, comprising over $3.5 billion in debt issuance.

Awards and Recognition

  • Chambers Asia-Pacific 2026

    Ranked in Banking & Finance: Acquisition Finance

  • Chambers Global 2026

    Ranked in Banking & Finance: Acquisition Finance

  • The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific 2026

    Recognised as a Leading Partner in Banking and Finance

  • IFLR1000 Asia-Pacific 2025

    Highly regarded in Banking and Finance

  • IFLR1000 2022

    Recognised as a Rising Star Partner in Banking and Finance

  • Australasian Lawyer Dealmaker of the Year 2024

    Dealmaker of the Year

  • Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards 2023

    Banking and Finance Partner of the Year