On July 23, 2025, 5C Group, a Montreal-based next-generation AI infrastructure provider, and its subsidiary CMH01 Holdings successfully raised US$835 million in capital to accelerate the development of its North American data centre portfolio. The financing comprised an equity investment led by Brookfield Asset Management, through its Infrastructure Structured Solutions platform along with its affiliated partners, and project debt financing led by Deutsche Bank. The capital will expand the development of 5C's data centres and accelerate its AI infrastructure across North America, addressing the surging demand for AI compute capacity and digital infrastructure.
The capital is specifically earmarked for the expansion of CMH01, a flagship hyperscale data centre campus in Columbus, Ohio. The site is a "mega-campus" spanning forty acres with 200MW of secured power, purpose-built for high-density AI training and inference workloads, including liquid-cooled GPU clusters. The transaction involved a highly sophisticated "structured solutions" equity piece from Brookfield alongside traditional project debt from Deutsche Bank, requiring careful harmonization of competing interests while maintaining 5C's operational agility. While 5C Group is a Canadian-headquartered AI champion, the primary asset (CMH01) is located in the United States, adding cross-border legal complexity, including the interplay between Canadian corporate governance and U.S. project security.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP advised 5C Group and CMH01 Holdings with a team consisting of Raphaël Amram, Daniel Stysis, and Bradley Sendel (Corporate); Chris Bennett, Marta Rochkin, Richie Borins, Constantine Troulis, Olga Lenova, and Daniel Mester (Financial Services); David Wilson, Greg Wylie, Jean-Philippe Dionne, Evan Belfer, and Kaitlin Gray (Tax); and Richard Wong (Commercial). Moelis & Company LLC acted as financial advisor and placement agent to 5C.
Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to Brookfield Asset Management. McCarthy Tétrault also advised Brookfield Asset Management with a team led by Jonathan See, Jeremy Pleasant, and Haiya Peng, which included Khristoff Browning and Ruo Lan Wang (Business Law); Raj Juneja, Kabir Jamal, and Justin Ng (Tax); Conrad Lee and Eugen Miscoi (Privacy and Data Security); Patrick Pengelly, Francis Racine, Charlotte Simard-Zakaib, and Andrew Weizman (Labour and Employment); Isabel Henkelman, Matthew Pekofsky, Xin Yue Zhang, and Daniel Korman (Real Property); Vincent Yip (Intellectual Property); and Jason Gudofsky and Gideon Kwinter (Competition and Antitrust). Milbank LLP served as legal counsel to Deutsche Bank.