Blue Owl Unveils Infrastructure Venture Catering to Data Centers

Blue Owl Capital Inc. is launching a new venture geared toward the data-center boom that will develop, own and operate fiber networks that are key to the infrastructure buildout.

Kirkwood Infrastructure Group will be wholly owned by funds managed by Blue Owl, the asset manager said Wednesday in a statement. It has already integrated nearly 400 miles of network and 40 data centers from South Reach Networks, a Florida-based fiber infrastructure provider acquired by a Blue Owl fund last year, according to the release.

“The digital infrastructure buildout in the US is just beginning,” Scott Bergs, the chief executive officer of Kirkwood, said in the statement. “Our team has a tremendous track record of deploying industry-leading network infrastructure that enables the next wave of compute requirements and digital transformation.”

Wall Street firms have been racing to meet rising demand for digital infrastructure, with estimates calling for trillions of dollars of additional investment. Blue Owl has been among the most aggressive in the space, with Marc Lipschultz, the firm’s co-CEO, referring to data centers “as one of the strongest long-term investment opportunities in decades.”

Kirkwood is expanding across Louisiana and Mississippi and plans to grow in the Southeast and beyond with the support of Blue Owl Digital Infrastructure, according to the statement.