US data center operator Switch has raised $3.5 billion, which it will use to refinance its existing debt.

The DigitalBridge-owned company has secured the cash in two separate transactions - a $2.4 billion commercial mortgage-backed security loan (CMBS) and a $1.1 billion asset-backed security (ABS) issuance.

A statement from Switch said the company will use the cash to “refinance the majority of the company’s outstanding acquisition financing, which supported the take-private transaction led by DigitalBridge and IFM Investors in December 2022.”

“We are thrilled to announce the completion of two landmark transactions: our third ABS and our inaugural CMBS issuances,” said Thomas Morton, president of Switch.

“These comprised $3.5 billion of new securitized debt, bringing our total issuance over the past 12 months to more than $5.2 billion. These two transactions, which we successfully closed only one month apart, make Switch the largest issuer of securitized data center paper during the past year.”

The CMBS deal relates to Switch’s Las Vegas 7, Las Vegas 9, and Reno 2 data centers, and all the lenders have received green bonds. The ABS transaction includes the company’s Las Vegas 10 and Las Vegas 11 data centers and is also designated as green bonds. Because of this, Switch claims the transactions represent the largest green data center deals of their type in history.

“Both of these transactions mark significant milestones in repaying our acquisition financing, and their timing highlights the resiliency of the Switch platform and our ability to access the capital markets at scale,” said Madonna Park, chief financial officer of Switch. “New and existing investors continue to show strong interest in our differentiated assets and business model, and we plan to remain a repeat issuer.”

Founded in 2000, Switch operates its large 'Prime' data center campuses in Austin, Texas; Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Atlanta, Georgia. Over the last year, it has filed to expand further in Austin and Atlanta.

DigitalBridge, alongside IFM Investors, took Switch private in an $11bn deal in December 2022. Australian pension fund Aware Super invested $500 million into Switch in 2023, but since then, the company has reportedly been exploring going public again.

Last September, it raised $5 billion in debt funding.