CFO interview: Pure DC's Mike Schwartz on lender appetite and the changing capital stack for data centres

Pure DC is one of the fastest-growing hyperscale and AI data centre platforms across Europe and the Middle East. Backed by Oaktree Capital Management, the company has secured major financing commitments to support development in both established cloud hubs and large-scale next-generation AI campuses. Analysys Mason Partner, Richard Morgan, spoke to Pure DC CFO, Mike Schwartz, about the evolution of data centre financing, the growing role of capital markets including securitisation, and how operators can expand while maintaining disciplined capital deployment, putting as little capital as possible at risk before a project becomes financeable. 

In the edited highlights from their conversation, Richard and Mike cover:

• the shift from corporate financing to project-level financing
• financing structures that are moving from the USA into Europe
• the differences between financing mature cloud hubs and next-generation AI campuses
• the evolving balance between debt and equity as data centre platforms mature.