BlackRock-MGX Consortium Eyes $5 Billion Aligned Data Centers Expansion

An Aligned data center in Northlake, Illinois.

A consortium including BlackRock Inc.’s Global Infrastructure Partners and Abu Dhabi’s MGX plans to invest $5 billion to boost growth at Aligned Data Centers as it completes its purchase of the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The group’s $40 billion acquisition of the data center developer has closed and the added capital is intended to help the firm scale up and boost capacity, the people said, asking not to be named discussing information that isn’t public.

Investors led by BlackRock’s GIP agreed to buy Aligned Data Centers last year in one of the asset manager’s largest ever infrastructure investments. Representatives for the company and the consortium declined to comment. The buyers purchased the company from Macquarie Asset Management, which made its first investment in Aligned in April 2018.

Aligned, which is based in Texas and operates throughout the US and South America, has dozens of campuses and data centers under management. It has more than 6.4 GW of operational and planned capacity.

The transaction comes as global investment firms, sovereign wealth funds and infrastructure specialists compete aggressively for data center assets, betting that demand for computing power will continue to outstrip supply. The rapid adoption of generative AI has triggered an unprecedented wave of spending by hyperscale cloud providers and technology companies, creating a scramble for facilities with access to reliable electricity and advanced cooling systems.

The sector has attracted some of the biggest deals in infrastructure over the past couple years. Blackstone Inc. bought QTS Realty Trust for about $10 billion in 2021. Investment firms including KKR & Co., Brookfield Asset Management, DigitalBridge Group and EQT Corp. have all increased allocations to digital infrastructure. Meanwhile, private capital has poured into developers building AI-focused campuses, as soaring power requirements make existing facilities increasingly valuable.