DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. Announces 11.7 Megawatts Of New Fortune 50 Leasing, Commencement Of A New Development, Land Acquisition And 2013 Guidance Increase

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE: DFT), today announced that the Company has executed a new lease totaling 6.83 megawatts ("MW") with an existing super wholesale Fortune 50 customer for data center space at its Santa Clara, California facility ('SC1").  The rent for this lease is the same as their previous executed lease within the building at the then escalated rate.  In Phase I of SC1, this tenant leased 2.28 MW of critical load for a term of 5.3 years, bringing Phase I to 100% leased and 94% commenced.  The estimated GAAP return on investment of SC1 Phase I is 9.2%.  The same Fortune 50 customer also pre-leased 4.55 MW of critical load in Phase II of SC1.  With this pre-lease, the Company has commenced development of 9.10 MW of critical load in Phase IIA of SC1.  Phase IIA is currently 50% pre-leased and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2014. 

In addition, the company executed the following at its other data center locations to date in the third quarter:

• One new lease in Piscataway, New Jersey ("NJ1") with a new Fortune 25 tenant for 2.28 MW of critical load with a lease term of 7.6 years.  The available critical load of NJ1 is now 52% leased and commenced, up from 39%.  The raised floor space is now 64% occupied up from 39% as this lease has a lower power density per square foot.
• One new lease in Reston, Virginia ("VA3") with the same Fortune 50 customer referenced above for 2.60 MW of critical load with a lease term of 5.1 years.  VA3 is now 71% leased and commenced, up from 51%.
• Acquired 15 acres of vacant land in Elk Grove Village, Illinois to develop a second data center facility.

"We have remained consistently focused on leasing our available inventory and are pleased to announce this significant execution towards our goal.  Our overall operating portfolio is now 94% leased and 93% commenced.  The newly acquired land in Chicago enables us to capture future demand in one of our best markets and expand upon our campus environment," commented Hossein Fateh, President and Chief Executive officer of DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc.

The tenant at NJ1 leased 12.5% of the total available critical load and occupies 25% of the total raised floor space of Phase I.  During the term of the lease, the tenant has the right to utilize all or a portion of the remaining available critical load up to 4.55 MW for their occupied space and pay for the additional critical load at the then escalated rate.  Should the Phase I raised floor space become fully occupied and this tenant does not fully utilize all of their available critical load, the Company anticipates the remaining unused critical load will be diverted to Phase II.  Should this occur, the incremental development cost per MW will be lower compared to Phase I, as there would be less infrastructure required. 

As a result of the leasing and development activity noted above, the Company has updated its 2013 Funds from Operations ("FFO") guidance for the full year.  The Company increased the low end from the prior range of $1.82 to $1.92 per share to $1.88 to $1.92 per share.  This is an increase of the mid-point of $0.03 per share and represents the new lease commencements and additional capitalized interest resulting from the commencement of the SC1 Phase IIA development.  The low end of the 2013 guidance range continues to assume no additional leases will be executed this year and excludes any impacts from the contemplated refinancing of the $550 million unsecured notes. 

About DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc.
DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE: DFT) is a leading owner, developer, operator and manager of enterprise-class, carrier-neutral, large multi-tenanted wholesale data centers.  The Company's facilities are designed to offer highly specialized, efficient and safe computing environments in a low-cost operating model.  The Company's customers outsource their mission critical applications and include national and international enterprises across numerous industries, such as technology, Internet content providers, media, communications, cloud-based, healthcare and financial services.  The Company's ten data centers are located in four major U.S. markets, which total 2.5 million gross square feet and 218 megawatts of available critical load to power the servers and computing equipment of its customers.  DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT) is headquartered in Washington, DC.  For more information, please visit www.dft.com.

Forward-Looking Statements Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  The matters described in these forward-looking statements include expectations regarding future events, results and trends and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond the company's control.  The company faces many risks that could cause its actual performance to differ materially from the results contemplated by its forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the risk that its assumptions underlying its full year and third quarter 2013 FFO guidance are not realized, the risks related to the leasing of available space to third-party tenants, including delays in executing new leases and failure to negotiate leases on terms that will enable it to achieve its expected returns, risks related to the collection of accounts and notes receivable, the risk that the company may not complete an early redemption of the 8.5% senior notes due 2017. the risk that the company may be unable to obtain new financing on favorable terms to facilitate, among other things, future development projects, the risks commonly associated with construction and development of new facilities (including delays and/or cost increases associated with the completion of new developments), risks relating to obtaining required permits and compliance with permitting, zoning, land-use and environmental requirements, the risk that the company will not declare and pay dividends as anticipated for 2013 and the risk that the company may not be able to maintain its qualification as a REIT for federal tax purposes.  The periodic reports that the company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, contain detailed descriptions of these and many other risks to which the company is subject.  These reports are available on our website at www.dft.com.  Because of the risks described above and other unknown risks, the company's actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from the results, performance or achievements contemplated by its forward-looking statements.  The information set forth in this news release represents management's expectations and intentions only as of the date of this press release.  The company assumes no responsibility to issue updates to the contents of this press release.

SOURCE DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc.