Macquarie Group has sold a data centre business to a consortium of investors for an enterprise value of US$40 billion (A$61.5 billion) in the largest global data centre transaction in history.
Acting on behalf of two of its privately managed infrastructure funds and its co-investment partners, the Australian investment bank’s Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) unit sold Aligned Data Centers to a consortium of AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), MGX and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners.
“The transaction implies an enterprise value of approximately $US40 billion, making it the largest to date for global data centres,” Macquarie said in a press release.
Based in Dallas, Texas, Aligned is a leading provider of innovative, sustainable and adaptive data centre solutions supporting hyperscale and enterprise customers across North and South America.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
MAM made its initial investment in April 2018 via Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV and acquired an additional stake in July 2020 via Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V.
Since 2018, Aligned has expanded from two facilities in Dallas and Phoenix with 85 megawatts (MW) of capacity to more than 5 gigawatts (5,000 MW) of operational and planned capacity in 50 data centres in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.
“This transaction underscores Macquarie Asset Management’s ability to consistently identify key thematics early and find opportunities that create value for our clients and partners,” Head of MAM Ben Way said.
Last year, MAM sold Air Trunk to a consortium of investors, which valued the company at $A24 billion ($US16) billion, including debt and planned capital expenditure.
Way was quoted in an Australian Financial Review newspaper story as saying it has five more portfolio companies that could reach the scale of Aligned Data Centers.
MAM has invested in digital infrastructure for more than two decades, including data centre platform operators AirTrunk, Aligned, Applied Digital, Bohao Internet Data Services, Hanam Data Centre, Netrality Data Centers and VIRTUS, and fibre networks and cell towers.
Macquarie Group shares had closed $3.13 (1.46%) higher at $217.82 on Wednesday, valuing the company at $83.02 billion.
