Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised Merlin Properties SOCIMI, S.A. (‘Merlin Properties’), the largest Spanish real estate group, on the sale of newly-issued shares for more than €920 million. The shares were sold to institutional investors through an accelerated bookbuild offering and will be listed on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges. The transaction had the support of Merlin Properties’ two major shareholders and its two executive directors who agreed irrevocable commitments to subscribe for new shares pro rata to their existing shareholdings. Merlin Properties aims to use the proceeds of the capital increase to invest in the second phase of its data centre strategy, which consists of developing 200 MW of additional capacity in Bilbao, Barcelona and Lisbon. Merlin Properties is already the leader in the Iberian data centre market with 60 MW of operating capacity. The Freshfields team was led by partner Armando Albarrán in Madrid, supported by partner Alfonso de Marcos and counsel Joe Amann. The deal team also included senior associate Chelsey Kaka and associates Javier González and Miguel Ángel Calvo. Assistance was provided by partners Doug Smith, Bosco Montejo, Peter Allen, Duncan Kellaway and Lori Goodman, senior associates Colleen Baehrend and Javier Sánchez, and associates Inés Palma and Lina Zhu.