Data center provider Equinix announced a plan to sell $500 million worth of securities on Monday. The company said it will use proceeds from the sale to pay down debt, including debt associated with its ongoing acquisition of Switch and Data, possibly to fund expansion and for other "general corporate purposes."

The offering consists of senior notes due in 2018, according to an Equinix statement. Interest rate and pricing of the notes had not been determined as of Monday evening.

The company has been expanding aggressively through both acquisition and build-out. The Switch and Data acquisition, expected to close in the second quarter of 2010, will add 34 data centers in the US and Canada to the Equinix portfolio.

Earlier this month, the provider also announced launch of two new facilities in Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, as well as an expansion of an older data center in Frankfurt. The announcements were part of an ongoing expansion program, in which Equinix expects to invest $1.4 billion from 2007 through 2010.