NextDC appoints Barrenjoey to lead debt raise to fund data centre ambitions
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The news: NextDC told investors that investment bank Barrenjoey will lead a subordinated notes offering next week, as it seeks to fund its data centre ambitions in Western Sydney.
The data centre developer announced the news in its half-yearly report on Wednesday evening, which saw the company post a 13% increase in net revenue from 1H25 while narrowing losses.
The numbers: NextDC reported a 13% rise in net revenue to $189.2 million, while its contracted utilisation — the total amount of data centre power capacity that customers have committed to lease — increased 137% to 416.6 MW. The company said its forward order book climbed 257% to reach 296.8MW, underwriting revenue and earnings growth through to FY29.
NextDC said its capital expenditure grew to $1.28 billion, up from $1.01 billion in 1H25, invested in the development of the S3 Sydney, M3 Melbourne, KL1 Kuala Lumpur and other expansion activities.
The company raised its capital expenditure guidance for FY2026 to $2.4 billion–$2.7 billion, up from $2.2 billion–$2.4 billion.
Net losses after tax also fell 8% to $39.4 million in the first half.
The board did not declare an interim dividend.
The context: The company said that in addition to the unsecured debt raise to be launched next week, it is also progressing its evaluation of partnering with third-party capital through a JVCo structure to fund the S4 and S7 projects in Horsley Park and Eastern Creek in Sydney.
Barrenjoey has been appointed lead financial adviser on both programs, with Cadence Advisory acting as independent financial adviser to NextDC.
In December the data centre developer confirmed its partnership with OpenAI on the planning, development and operation of its “hyperscale AI campus and large-scale GPU supercluster” at the proposed S7 development. The cost of building the S7 facility is expected to be in the ballpark of $7.6 billion with a potential total power capacity of 650 megawatts.
What they said: NextDC CEO and managing director Craig Scroggie, said in a statement on the results: “The step change in the scale of the Company’s activities over the past six months represents the culmination of many years of work to position NextDC to capture the unprecedented demand and reflects our reputation for delivering on time and at scale. Our record forward order book is expected to drive a material uplift in revenue and earnings as we deliver this capacity across the period to FY29.”
