10 power players behind the data center debt boom

Lewis has been active in the sector for nearly two decades, dating back to 2007 — well before the AI-driven boom pushed the industry into the spotlight.

Over that time, the scale of projects has shifted dramatically: what was once a $25 million deal is now dwarfed by gigawatt-scale campuses requiring billions. “If you can’t invest a billion dollars, we don’t even want to talk to you,” Lewis said, underscoring how the surge in demand has raised the bar for investors.

Citizens, a Northeast regional lender, has become a significant player in the data center boom by building a 35-person specialized team spanning financing, advisory, and capital markets under the leadership of New York-based Managing Director Lewis.

Lewis’s team traces its roots to DH Capital, a specialist advisory firm acquired by Citizens in 2022, which has completed more than 200 transactions totaling over $60 billion across digital infrastructure, including data centers, fiber networks, and cloud platforms, according to the company’s website. The group had been a key advisor on major deals, including the sale of hyperscale data center operator ODATA to Aligned Data Centers.

Citizens helps arrange construction financingoften through syndicated credit facilities, which is later refinanced in the public markets through structures such as asset-backed securities. This allows developers to recycle capital and fund new projects as projects grow larger and more capital-intensive.

As the deals have grown more complex, Lewis said his team has had to become as fluent in the technical details, from learning to review electrical diagrams, mechanical systems, and land-use permits. That expertise, he said, allows bankers to assess better what could delay or derail a project — and to give investors confidence that it will ultimately be completed.

Lewis joined DH Capital after working as a finance executive at fiber-optic provider InfoHighway Communications.