GSK Stockmann has provided comprehensive legal advice to DC Max, a sister company of the internationally active real estate and investment manager FREO Group, on the development and financing of one of the largest planned data centre projects in Europe.
DC Max is responsible for the initial development of the site for the planned data centre in Dummerstorf near Rostock (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). This includes, in particular, the acquisition of the properties and ensuring the necessary grid connection capacity. The region has extensive capacity for generating renewable energy, which can be used to power the data centre.
GSK Stockmann supported DC Max in the development of the site with a cross-border team based in Germany and Luxembourg. The advisory services covered, among other things, the process of acquiring the project sites, securing the grid connection and project financing with the European investor Frux Capital, and related to both German and Luxembourg law.
The project is being carried out by the Schwarz Group, which is acting as both investor and operator. In the initial development phase, the aim is to achieve a computing capacity of 240 megawatts. Up to 2033, an investment of around 5.6 billion euros is earmarked for this project. In a second phase, the data centre can be expanded to a total capacity of up to one gigawatt by 2045, making this project one of the largest planned data centre developments in Europe.
Dr Olaf Schmechel, partner and Head of the data centres practice at GSK Stockmann, says: “Data centres form the infrastructural backbone of the steadily advancing digitalisation and, in particular, the further development of AI applications. Projects of this scale also place high demands on the legal structuring and, in this particular case, on cooperation across different jurisdictions.”
Advisers of DC Max at GSK Stockmann:
Germany: Dr Olaf Schmechel (lead, Real Estate Transactions & Investments), Dr Mechtild-Maria Siebke, LL.M., Marcel Alexander Buss, LL.M. (both Finance), Çağlayan Birkan, LL.M. (Real Estate Transactions & Investments), Robert Korndörfer (Corporate), Dr Jan Hennig, Dr Anna Charlotte Kümpers (both Public Building and Planning Law)
Luxembourg: Anna Lindner (lead, Corporate, Finance), Andrea Carraretto, LL.M., Auriane Cridel, Milena Engeldinger (Corporate)
Other advisers:
Linklaters for Frux Capital
