BlackRock’s [NYSE: BLK] Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Abu Dhabi-based technology investor MGX and the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) will together acquire Aligned Data Centers (Aligned) from funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management and its co-invest partners, the buyers announced in a press statement published on Aligned's website. 

The transaction pegs Plano, Texas-headquartered Aligned’s enterprise value at roughly US$40bn, according to the press statement. 

The transaction is expected to close in H1 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions.  

Upon close, Aligned will continue to be led by CEO Andrew Schaap and the existing leadership team, the release said, adding that a deal will equip Aligned with the capital and strategic support needed to accelerate growth and meet the demand for sustainable digital infrastructure.   

While this story has now broken to the public, TMT Finance subscribers had exclusive access to our reporting from the beginning of September - a full month before Bloomberg and Reuters:
 

Last month, TMT Finance exclusively reported that GIP and MGX were in talks to acquire a majority stake in Aligned and that a deal could value the target at more than US$20bn. 

Sources also told TMT Finance that Guggenheim Securities was advising on the sellside. 

The transaction is AIP’s first investment and an important step towards its initial target of mobilising and deploying US$30bn of equity capital, with the potential of reaching US$100bn including debt, the release added. 

Guggenheim Securities acted as lead financial advisor to the sellers, with Wells Fargo, TD Securities, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs & Co, J.P. Morgan, Citizens JMP Securities, and BofA Securities also serving as financial advisors.  

Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel to the sellers, while Sterlington served as legal counsel to Aligned’s management team. 

Kirkland & Ellis is advising the buyside consortium, the firm said in a press release.

Aligned designs, builds, and operates datacentres and its portfolio includes 50 colocation campuses and more than 5GW of operational and planned capacity in the US, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. 

Established in September 2024 by BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), MGX, Microsoft [NASDAQ: MSFT], and NVIDIA [NASDAQ: NVDA], AIP was created to accelerate investment in next-generation AI infrastructure. 

A Macquarie Asset Management press release said it had invested in Aligned via its Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V fund in July 2020, following an investment by the Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV fund in April 2018.

 

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