Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which is owned by BlackRock, is in the talks to acquire Macquarie-backed aligned data centers in a deal worth $40 billion. According to a Bloomberg report, the companies are yet to finalize a deal, however, they will announce an agreement within days.
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX, established by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and G42 as founding partners, is also involved in the talks and will invest independently as part of a transaction, according to the report. Mubadala has separately already invested in Aligned.
GIP has also been considering other takeovers, including a potential acquisition of power company AES Corp. on expectations that the sector will benefit from surging electricity demand from facilities running AI applications. AES has an enterprise value of about $38 billion, including debt.
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This is the latest among the many deals that have popped off involving AI infrastructure, since the technology really took off. Companies are investing heavily in data centers to power AI. Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank have recently announced plans to build five more data centers as part of their ambitious Stargate project. The new sites will bring Stargate’s total data center capacity to nearly seven gigawatts and more than $400 billion in investment over the next three years, according to OpenAI.
However, some market observers have concerns about these deals. They argue that while data center spending and construction is accelerating, AI services have yet to go mainstream and earn the revenues that justify this.
“If the technology doesn’t catch up and doesn’t deliver as per the high expectations that the market’s pricing in, then we’re in for a bubble,” GIC Pte group CIO Bryan Yeo told the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore on Friday.
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At $40 billion, GIP’s deal for Aligned would rank among the world’s five biggest transactions this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. GIP already owns Dallas-based data center company CyrusOne with KKR & Co. The two firms took CyrusOne private in a 2021 deal valuing the company at about $15 billion.
BlackRock acquired GIP last year for roughly $12.5 billion. Shares of BlackRock have gained about 13% this year, giving the company a market value of about $189 billion.
Aligned, which is based in Plano, Texas, and operating throughout the U.S. and South America, has 50 campuses and 78 data centers under management and future development, according to its website. In January, it obtained more than $12 billion in equity and debt commitments from investors including funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management. Aligned was also among the companies represented at a meeting with the Trump administration officials last month.