Blackstone, CPPIB to Buy Data Centre Giant AirTrunk in $16B Deal

Blackstone has agreed to buy Australia’s AirTrunk in a deal valuing the data centre company at A$24 billion ($16.1 billion), with the private equity titan set to team up with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on the acquisition.

The purchase of the 800-megawatt platform from a consortium led by Aussie finance giant Macquarie represents Blackstone’s largest-ever investment in the Asia Pacific region, the Manhattan-based firm said Wednesday in a release. The AirTrunk portfolio includes 11 data centres in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and the company owns land that can support more than 1 gigawatt of future growth.

“This is Blackstone at its best — leveraging our global platform to capitalise on our highest conviction theme,” said president and chief operating officer Jon Gray. “AirTrunk is another vital step as Blackstone seeks to be the leading digital infrastructure investor in the world across the ecosystem, including data centres, power and related services.”

The mega-deal remains subject to regulatory approval in Australia and would be the fifth-largest takeover of a company based in that country, according to an analysis by The Australian newspaper.

Founder Payday

In a separate announcement, Macquarie Asset Management and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board said they would exit their respective equity interests in AirTrunk totalling 88 percent, with the platform’s founder and CEO, Robin Khuda, also realising part of his stake.

“This transaction evidences the strength of the AirTrunk platform in a strong performing sector as we capture the next wave of growth from cloud services and AI and support the energy transition in Asia Pacific,” Khuda said.

AirTrunk’s precise ownership structure is undisclosed, but The Australian reported that Macquarie holds 60 percent, followed by PSP Investments (28 percent) and Khuda and other staff (12 percent). Sources told the newspaper that the deal with Blackstone would include a retention mechanism for Khuda and other key people at AirTrunk to ensure continuity after the change of control.

Reuters reported in March that AirTrunk’s owners had started a sales process with the aim of valuing the platform at A$15 billion, but the final deal value ended up being more than half again as much. Others who joined the pursuit of AirTrunk included infrastructure giant GIP and an IFM Investors-DigitalBridge tie-up.

New Benchmark

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said Wednesday that it had committed to acquiring 12 percent of AirTrunk as a co-investor alongside funds managed by Blackstone.

“We are delighted to partner with Blackstone and the AirTrunk management team to continue growing the business,” said Max Biagosch, CPPIB’s global head of real assets. “This investment represents another milestone in our broader data centre strategy, further enhancing our footprint in the region to the benefit of CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

Led by chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone is poised to add to a portfolio that includes $55 billion in data centres (including facilities under construction) and more than $70 billion in prospective pipeline development.

The AirTrunk deal’s valuation of more than $20 million per megawatt of committed capacity sets a benchmark to be closely watched by other fast-growing APAC data centre platforms, including Warburg Pincus-backed Princeton Digital Group and Stonepeak-backed Digital Edge.