NEXTDC in Australia unveils a capital plan worth A$2.2 billion.

      The ASX-listed data centre operator is set to raise A$1.5 billion through a fully underwritten equity offering and is increasing its hybrid securities programme by A$700 million, with La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec now committed to a total of A$1.7 billion. This capital will support the accelerated development of the S4 Western Sydney campus, which saw a surge in contracted utilisation of 250 megawatts in just one quarter.

      NEXTDC (ASX: NXT), the largest independent data centre operator in Australia, has paused trading to initiate a A$2.2 billion capital plan, which includes a fully underwritten A$1.5 billion equity entitlement offer, as announced on Monday. This initiative directly responds to a notable increase in demand: between December 2025 and 31 March 2026, NEXTDC’s pro forma contracted utilisation surged by 250 megawatts, marking a 60% rise in just one quarter, bringing the total to 667MW.

      The forward order book expanded by 83% during the same period, reaching 544MW, thanks to hyperscale cloud providers and AI infrastructure customers driving the growth. The equity component will take the form of a 1-for-5.4 pro-rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer, priced at A$12.70 per share, representing an 8.6% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price of A$13.90. New shares are anticipated to be made available to retail shareholders by 18 May, while the institutional bookbuild was already in progress when trading was halted. Before the suspension, NEXTDC's shares had climbed about 25% throughout April, indicating increasing investor interest in data centre infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific region.

      The total capital plan of A$2.2 billion combines the A$1.5 billion equity offering with a A$700 million expansion of the company's hybrid securities programme. NEXTDC's hybrid securities are deeply subordinated instruments that rank below all existing debt and were previously supported by a binding commitment of A$1 billion from La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Canada's second-largest pension fund with around C$517 billion in assets. The expanded commitment raises La Caisse’s total support to A$1.7 billion, solidifying what the Canadian investor has described as a “promising first step toward a long-term partnership” with NEXTDC.

      The main use of the proceeds will be for the expedited development of S4, NEXTDC’s data centre campus in Western Sydney, where the company plans to invest roughly A$1.5 billion through the end of the financial year 2027. A record 250MW customer commitment at S4 in the latest quarter prompted the announcement: CEO Craig Scroggie noted that the capital raise aims to “materially expand NEXTDC’s contracted capacity and reduce the risks associated with the company’s Western Sydney developments ahead of potential strategic partnerships with private capital partners starting in 2027.” This suggests a future intention to invite joint venture partners or asset-level investors once the facility is contracted and de-risked, a common approach for large-scale data centre infrastructure.

      The financial guidance announced is noteworthy. NEXTDC has increased its FY26 capital expenditure guidance by A$300 million, adjusting it to a range of A$2.7 billion to A$3.0 billion. For FY27, the capex is projected to be around A$5.0 billion. The company is concurrently keeping its existing FY26 revenue and EBITDA guidance intact while predicting that contracted EBITDA from current customer agreements will exceed A$1 billion over time, approximately four times higher than the midpoint of the current FY26 guidance of A$235 million. Following the capital raise and recent fundraising efforts, NEXTDC anticipates pro forma liquidity of about A$5.9 billion.

      NEXTDC is either operating or developing 20 data centres across various Australian cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Port Hedland, Canberra, Adelaide, the Sunshine Coast, and Darwin, and it is exploring sites in Tokyo, Bangkok, Johor and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Singapore. Currently, Australia's deployable data centre capacity is approximately 1,350 megawatts, with predictions estimating it will reach 3,100 MW by 2030–31 and potentially as much as 7.4 gigawatts by 2035 under AI-driven scenarios. New South Wales has approved A$51.9 billion worth of data centre projects through its Investment Delivery Authority, effectively streamlining approvals and associated grid connections and planning support among a select group of qualified operators.