A&O Shearman advised a consortium of global lenders on a landmark USD254 million green project finance transaction for Scala Data Centers, Latin America's leading platform for sustainable digital infrastructure.
The financing will support the construction of three hyperscale data centers located in Curauma, Lampa, and Huechuraba, and a major power substation in Lampa, Chile. This is Scala's first structured financing outside Brazil.
The total financing package reaches USD328m, including a local VAT bridge, marking the largest single-country project finance deal for a data center company in Latin America to date. The structure reflects Scala's growing international footprint and its ability to unlock capital-efficient, innovative financial solutions across jurisdictions.
In line with Scala's ESG commitments, the new sites in Chile will operate with 100% certified renewable energy, zero-waste water, and best-in-class energy efficiency metrics, with design PUEs below 1.45.
With 23 MW of contracted IT capacity and an additional 30 MW contractually reserved under pre-established agreements, the deal ensures immediate deployment capacity while enabling seamless long-term scalability through embedded contractual mechanisms.
"A&O Shearman is proud to support this project, which will further position Scala as an industry leader and Chile as a key player in this innovative space," said A&O Shearman energy, natural resources and infrastructure partner, and co-head of the Latin America practice Sami Mir. "An enterprise of this scale and innovation required a deep bench of talent across jurisdictions and practices—and as our firm has demonstrated time and again, we delivered."
The transaction was recognized as "Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year – Latin America" at the 2024 IJGlobal Awards in New York, an acknowledgment of its unprecedented scope, execution complexity, and impact across the region.
The A&O Shearman team was led by Washington, D.C.-based partner Sami Mir, with New York-based partner Azam Aziz advising on derivatives aspects, alongside Peter Tolson (counsel) and associates Alex Becker, Emilie Ferre, Adele Hayer, Jaime Hernandez and Bilyana Marion.