Big Law firms assemble for Meta's record-breaking $27bn data centre deal

A group of Big Law firms have landed roles on Facebook owner Meta’s $27 billion joint venture with Blue Owl Capital to build a new data centre campus in Louisiana - a deal that's backed by the largest-ever private bond offering.

Spanning 2,700 acres, the Hyperion project will be 80% owned by alternative asset manager Blue Owl, with Meta retaining a 20% stake and overseeing construction and property management.

Biggest private credit deal ever

The financing package comprises $27 billion in debt and $2.5 billion in equity, with Morgan Stanley - sole bookrunner on the deal - calling it both the largest project finance bond and the largest private debt securities offering ever completed. Several outlets have described it as the largest private credit deal on record.

Pimco was the biggest bond buyer, taking on around $18 billion according to Bloomberg, while the Wall Street Journal reports that BlackRock purchased more than $3 billion of the debt.

As part of the joint venture, Meta contributed land and other assets for the site and received a $3 billion one-time payment, while funds managed by Blue Owl injected around $7 billion in cash into the project.

Bigger picture

The deal lands as the AI boom drives unprecedented demand for data centre capacity.

According to the Financial Times, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are together expected to spend more than $400 billion on data centres next year alone - on top of roughly $350 billion in 2025.

Once completed, the 5GW Hyperion campus is expected to draw twice as much power as the entire city of New Orleans on a peak day, CNBC reported.

Advising

Latham & Watkins advised Meta on the transaction with a team spanning corporate, real estate, tax, finance and competition. Eversheds Sutherland repped Meta on leasing matters.

Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Blue Owl with a team including Houston and Austin-based corporate partners Adam Larson, Brittany Sakowitz and Patrick Moneypenny.

Milbank acted for Morgan Stanley, the sole bookrunner, on the securities offering. The team was led by project, energy and infrastructure finance partners Dan Bartfeld, Jaime Ramirez and Carolina Walther-Meade and corporate finance and securities partners Jonathon Jackson and Rod Miller.

Clifford Chance and Greenberg Traurig advised Pimco as majority investors in Blue Owl’s securities offering. The CC team was led by New York-based capital markets partner Gianluca Bacchiocchi and finance partner Zarrar Sehgal.