James Dodsworth

Partner, London

Biography

“James is very responsive and professional. He has great depth of knowledge and commercial awareness in data center developments.”
Real Estate Big Ticket, Chambers UK 2024

“James Dodsworth is extremely bright and accurate on technical matters and has a very pragmatic negotiating style.”
Real Estate Big Ticket, Chambers UK 2023

Overview

James Dodsworth is a partner in our global Real Estate industry group based in London and is head of the Real Estate practice for the EMEA region. James advises clients on the investment, structuring, leasing and financing of commercial real estate, and is widely acknowledged as an authority on the global data center industry.

James has a particular focus on data centers and digital infrastructure and is a regular speaker at data center industry events throughout the UK, Europe and Asia. He has authored a number of industry related publications, relating to the legal challenges facing those involved with data centers.

Bars and Courts
England and Wales, Solicitor
Education
The College of Law
Chester
LLB
University of Birmingham
Languages
English

Experience

Representation of a London based data centre operator in connection with its US$1 billion acquisition and associated multi-phase development financing of an industrial plot in outer London, UK for the purpose of developing and operating a data centre facility.

Representation of Colt Technology Services, a multinational telecommunications company, on the carve-out and subsequent sale of twelve data centers across its Europe portfolio to AtlasEdge.

Representation of Digital Realty, on its US$680 million sale of a portfolio of 11 European data centres to Ascendas Reit, a CapitaLand sponsored REIT (Project Fairway).

Representation of Fenwick, the UK retailer on the sale of its New Bond Street department store in central London.

Representation on Global Compute Infrastructure LP (Global Compute) on its agreement to acquire ATM S.A (ATM), the leading data center and communications infrastructure business in Poland, from a consortium of funds managed by MCI Capital, one of Poland's leading venture capital and private equity companies, and Mezzanine Management, an independent investment advisory firm.

Representation of Atman, a Poland-based data center provider, and its major shareholder Global Compute Infrastructure on an approximately €316 million development financing.

Representation of Infravia, the French infrastructure investor, and NGD's founders on the proposed sale of Next Generation Data (NGD) to Vantage Data Centers. NGD is a data centre business located in Newport, South Wales.

Representation of Oaktree Capital Management, a leading global alternative investment management firm, on its sale of the SACO property portfolio, one of the UK's leading providers of serviced apartments with an extensive network of properties around the world, to Brookfield Asset Management.

Awards and Recognition

Leading Individual – Real Estate – Commercial Property: Investment
Legal 500 UK, 2024

Certificate of Completion: Leadership in Law Firms
Harvard Law School Executive Education, September 2022

Named in the Power 200 as one of 'The World's Most Influential Data Economy Leaders' of 2019.