La Caisse Commits A$1.0 Billion to a Subordinated Hybrid Securities Offer by NextDC
La Caisse has made its first direct investment in a data centre strategy in Asia Pacific, with the Canadian pension fund manager committing A$1.0 billion ($693 million) to a subordinated hybrid securities offer by NextDC.
The Quebec-based organisation has made a binding commitment to take up the full size of the offer, according to an announcement filed with the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday, with NextDC said to be using the capital to fund construction of its contracted pipeline through to fiscal 2029.
“The announcement of the hybrid securities offer and the La Caisse commitment represent another step toward NextDC delivering on a material step-change in the scale of our business as we deliver on the Company’s contracted forward order book across the period to FY29,” chief executive Craig Scroggie said.
The deal lifts NextDC’s pro-forma liquidity, including cash and undrawn facilities, to approximately A$5.2 billion, according to the company.
Hybrid Structure
The 100-year securities carry a 7.50 percent per annum initial coupon and a non-call period of five years. Coupons may be deferred at NextDC’s election, and the securities sit outside the company’s senior debt covenants.
The hybrid securities rank junior to all of NextDC’s existing and future debt, while still standing senior to ordinary shares. The instruments do not include provisions for conversion to equity.
The offer closes on or around 23 April 2026, according to the announcement, with NextDC acknowledging that La Caisse’s final allocation may be less than its full A$1.0 billion commitment depending on demand from other institutional investors.
NextDC operates 17 data centres across eight Australian cities, with around 208MW of operational capacity and more than 120MW under development, according to the company. Contracted utilisation reached 416.6MW as of February 2026, with a forward order book of 296.8MW.
In December of last year the company broke ground on its first project in Japan – a 28MW facility in central Tokyo. The company expects to open its first facility in Malaysia later this year.
Digital Infrastructure Pivot
La Caisse’s first direct investment in Asia Pacific’s data centre sector comes as the Quebec fund builds exposure to the industry after years of caution.
As recently as May last year, Emmanuel Jaclot, La Caisse’s executive vice-president and head of infrastructure, said the fund had held back from data centres because it was unable to find the right risk-return balance, according to an interview published by ION Analytics.
Then in July 2025 La Caisse teamed with DigitalBridge to take joint control of US data centre player Yondr Group in a $5.8 billion deal — the fund’s first direct equity stake in a data centre company.
Yondr’s portfolio at the time included a 300MW-plus hyperscale campus in Johor, Malaysia, anchored by a long-term lease to Oracle. Vantage Data Centers — another DigitalBridge portfolio company — subsequently acquired the Johor campus as part of a $1.6 billion investment in its APAC platform by GIC and ADIA, closing in November 2025.
La Caisse had previously backed data centres through debt. It provided up to Euros 300 million ($347 million) as part of a Euros 750 million facility for Vantage’s EMEA platform in 2024, and last month provided C$240 million ($172 million) in senior debt for Cologix’s MTL8 campus in Montreal in March 2026.
“This commitment will help underpin NextDC’s construction program, supporting growing demand for digital infrastructure in Australia,” Jaclot said. La Caisse manages C$517 billion in net assets and already has C$15 billion invested in Australia across infrastructure, private equity and logistics real estate, according to its website.
Stacking Capital
Tuesday’s offer follows NextDC’s expansion of its senior debt facilities to A$6.4 billion in August 2025, which extended its weighted average loan maturity to 5.6 years.
NextDC also intends to pursue a subordinated wholesale notes issue in the Australian dollar market. That transaction would rank senior to the hybrid securities and is expected to follow completion of the current offer.
Barrenjoey is sole structuring adviser and lead manager. Cadence Advisory and Mallesons are advising NextDC as financial and legal advisers respectively.
NextDC will be able to put its new cash to use on projects including a A$1.3 billion Melbourne data centre campus which received development approval in December. During that same month NextDC announced a partnership with OpenAI to develop a Sydney data centre campus.
Settlement of the hybrid securities is expected shortly after the 23 April closing date, conditional on matters within the company’s control.
Earlier today La Caisse and NEXTDC issued a press release on the A$1.0 billion Hybrid Securities Offer and La Caisse's commitment:
NEXTDC Limited (ASX: NXT) (NEXTDC or the Company) today announced the launch of a A$1.0 billion wholesale offer of subordinated hybrid securities (Hybrid Securities) to support the Company’s growth strategy (Hybrid Securities Offer).
The Hybrid Securities Offer is supported by a A$1.0 billion binding commitment from La Caisse, a global investment group based in Québec, Canada, reflecting its confidence in NEXTDC’s strategically located asset base, its development pipeline and its demonstrated delivery capabilities.
Commenting on the Hybrid Securities Offer and La Caisse’s commitment, NEXTDC’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Craig Scroggie, said: “The announcement of the Hybrid Securities Offer and the La Caisse commitment represent another step toward NEXTDC delivering on a material step-change in the scale of our business as we deliver on the Company’s contracted forward order book across the period to FY29 and make further investments across the portfolio of new projects. We are delighted with this binding commitment from La Caisse, a long‑term investor with deep experience in infrastructure, as a further validation of our growth strategy.”
Emmanuel Jaclot, La Caisse’s Executive Vice-President and Head of Infrastructure and Sustainability said: “This commitment will help underpin NEXTDC’s construction program, supporting growing demand for digital infrastructure in Australia and adding to La Caisse’s long track record in partnering with high-quality infrastructure operators through their growth phase. We see this as a promising first step in a long-term partnership between La Caisse and NEXTDC.”
Hybrid Securities and La Caisse’s commitment
The Hybrid Securities will provide NEXTDC with flexible, long-term capital to support the Company’s growth funding requirements and strategic initiatives, including the continued development of key data centre assets and the advancement of future capacity expansions.
The Hybrid Securities will have a non call period of five years and a maturity of 100 years. They are expected to be tax deductible and classified as debt for accounting purposes, and will sit outside the Company’s senior debt facilities. This funding is expected to enhance the Company’s financial flexibility, including through a lower cash coupon during the first five years, small coupon step-ups until year 10 and the ability to defer coupons at the Company’s election.
The Hybrid Securities are deeply subordinated instruments, ranking junior to all existing and future debt obligations of the Group (including the Company’s senior debt facilities and the potential issue of Wholesale Notes described below) and senior only to the Company’s ordinary shares and any other equity securities.
There are no equity conversion features associated with the Hybrid Securities. Other key terms are set out in the Annexure to this release.
Having received a commitment from La Caisse to apply for the full size of the Hybrid Securities Offer, the Company is now offering the Hybrid Securities to a group of institutional investors, with the closing date for the Hybrid Securities Offer expected to be on or about Thursday, 23 April 2026, with settlement and issuance expected to occur shortly thereafter. Settlement is conditional only on matters that are within the Company’s control or for which the Company has a high degree of confidence in achieving satisfaction on reasonable grounds.
La Caisse’s allocation of Hybrid Securities will be determined following the conclusion of the Hybrid Securities Offer and may be less than its commitment.
Pro-forma liquidity
Inclusive of the Hybrid Securities Offer, the Company will have pro forma liquidity (cash and undrawn facilities) of approximately A$5.2 billion as at 31 December 20251.
Wholesale Notes
In addition to the Hybrid Securities Offer, and consistent with the Company’s first half results commentary, NEXTDC’s intention remains to pursue a subordinated notes issue in the A$ wholesale debt market (Wholesale Notes) to further strengthen its long-term capital position and diversify its pool of funding.
Any Wholesale Note issuance is expected to occur after completion of the Hybrid Securities Offer and subject to prevailing market conditions. Any Wholesale Notes issue would rank senior to the Hybrid Securities in the Company’s capital structure.
Advisers
Barrenjoey is acting as sole Structuring Adviser, Lead Manager and Offer Agent to NEXTDC in relation to the Hybrid Securities Offer.
Cadence Advisory is acting as independent financial adviser and Mallesons as legal adviser to NEXTDC in relation to the Hybrid Securities Offer.
Authorised for release by the Board of NEXTDC Limited.
Issuer • NEXTDC Limited (ASX:NXT) Initial guarantors • Consistent with the Company’s existing senior debt facilities Issue size • A$1.0 billion Ranking and security • Deeply subordinated and unsecured
• Ranking senior to the Company's ordinary shares, any future preference shares and any obligations expressed to be subordinated to the Hybrid Securities, equally with any parity obligations and junior to all other debt obligations of the Group (including the Company’s existing senior debt and the potential issue of Wholesale Notes)Maturity date • 100 years from the issue date Issuer optional redemption dates • Redeemable with cash after five years from issue date, and on certain other dates thereafter
• Other early redemption rights on occurrence of a change of control or tax event
• The redemption price will be based on a total yield of 9.20% per annum until the end of year 5, and thereafter at parCoupons • Coupons are payable semi-annually in cash
• The initial coupon rate is 7.50% per annum (fixed) for the first five years
• From the end of year 5, the coupon rate steps up to 9.20% per annum, with further scheduled incremental step-ups applying through to year 10 and a 5.00% step-up at the end of year 10
• If the Hybrid Securities are not redeemed at the end of year 5, a one-off special coupon is also payable (subject to deferral), calculated so that the total yield for years 1 to 5 is 9.20% per annum
• Coupons may be deferred at the Company's election, subject to a dividend and capital stopper regime and other customary conditions
• Coupons may also be deferred where an event of default or potential event of default subsists under the Company's senior debt facilitiesHolder redemption rights • None Conversion rights • None Financial covenants • No maintenance financial covenants
• Future bond issuances, material asset disposals and distributions will be subject to an incurrence covenant based on an Adjusted Gearing Ratio (inclusive of all Group debt, including the Hybrid Securities and any other forms of subordinated debt or hybrid capital) that is not to exceed 85%, and in each case adjusted for the relevant issue, asset disposal or distributionChange of control • Issuer redemption right, with a 5.00% coupon step-up if not redeemed
• A one-off coupon may also be payable, subject to a minimum return threshold (expressed as a multiple of invested capital)Listing • Unlisted 1 Before transaction costs. Based on the Company’s cash position of A$278 million and undrawn debt capacity of A$3,940 million (both as at 31 December 2025), and the proposed Hybrid Securities issue of A$1,000 million.
ABOUT NEXTDC
NEXTDC is an ASX 100-listed technology company and Asia’s most innovative Data Centre-as-a-Service provider. We are building the infrastructure platform for the digital economy, delivering the critical power, security and connectivity for global cloud computing providers, enterprises, and Government.
NEXTDC is recognised globally for the design, construction, and operation of Australia’s only network of Uptime Institute certified Tier IV facilities, and the only data centre operator in the Southern Hemisphere to achieve Tier IV Gold certification for Operational Sustainability. NEXTDC has a strong focus on sustainability and operational excellence through renewable energy sources and delivering world-class operational efficiency. Our data centres have been engineered to deliver exceptional levels of efficiency and the industry’s lowest Total Cost of Operation through NABERS 5-star energy efficiency.
NEXTDC’s corporate operations have been certified carbon neutral under the Australian Government’s Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard.
Our Cloud Centre partner ecosystem is Australia’s most dynamic digital marketplace, comprising carriers, cloud providers and IT service providers, enabling local and international customers to source and connect with cloud platforms, service providers and vendors to build complex hybrid cloud networks and scale their critical IT infrastructure services.
NEXTDC is powering the intelligence economy.
To learn more, visit www.nextdc.com
ABOUT LA CAISSE
At La Caisse, formerly CDPQ, we have invested for 60 years with a dual mandate: generate optimal long-term returns for our 48 depositors, who represent over 6 million Quebecers, and contribute to Québec’s economic development.
As a global investment group, we’re active in the major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private credit. As at December 31, 2025, La Caisse’s net assets totalled $517 billion. For more information, visit lacaisse.com or consult our LinkedIn or Instagram pages.
Alright, this is a pretty big deal because it represents La Caisse's first foray into Australian data centres.
There is a lot of focus on the structure of the deal but at the end of the day, La Caissse is lending NEXTDC up to A$1 billion to finance its growth and operations through the Hybrid Securities Offering.
I did note this part in the press release:
The Hybrid Securities will have a non call period of five years and a maturity of 100 years. They are expected to be tax deductible and classified as debt for accounting purposes, and will sit outside the Company’s senior debt facilities. This funding is expected to enhance the Company’s financial flexibility, including through a lower cash coupon during the first five years, small coupon step-ups until year 10 and the ability to defer coupons at the Company’s election.
The Hybrid Securities are deeply subordinated instruments, ranking junior to all existing and future debt obligations of the Group (including the Company’s senior debt facilities and the potential issue of Wholesale Notes described below) and senior only to the Company’s ordinary shares and any other equity securities.
There are no equity conversion features associated with the Hybrid Securities. Other key terms are set out in the Annexure to this release.
100-year maturity is a long time, perfectly in line with La Caisse's long-dated liabilities.
The 100-year securities carry a 7.50 percent per annum initial coupon and a non-call period of five years.
There is also inflation protection embedded in this deal, which is another attractive feature.
Whether the Hybrid Securities rank junior to all existing and future debt obligation sis really of no consequence, as the company is solid and expected to be around for a long time.
The funding will enhance the company's financial flexibility and allow it to grow its operations.
In short, this is a smart private credit deal with a publicly-listed Australian digital infrastructure specialist.
Below, discover how NEXTDC’s hyperscale data centres are powering the next generation of AI factories across Australia. From high-performance infrastructure to sustainable innovation, see why NEXTDC is at the core of the AI revolution.
Also, NEXTDC brings world-class data centre capability to the partnership. Purpose-built for high-performance workloads, its facilities are engineered as AI factories- with high-density power, advanced chip cooling, and sovereign security built in. These centres support everything from colocated infrastructure to scalable hybrid deployments, all backed by certified uptime and compliance.
Lastly, billions of dollars are flowing into the Data Centre Industry in Australia, powered by the explosion of AI, but the sector has its growing pains. ABC News Autralia's Mike Lorigan reports.
Take the time to watch this report, it's excellent.
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