Macquarie Asset Management agreed to sell its Aligned Data Centers business for $40 billion to a BlackRock-led consortium that also includes Microsoft and Nvidia.
It is the largest data-center deal to date, Macquarie said in its announcement early Wednesday.
The firm's privately managed infrastructure funds and investment partners are selling Aligned Data Centers to a consortium that includes BlackRock's Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership, or AIP. MGX, an AI investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates, is also among the buyers.
AIP was founded in September 2024 by BlackRock, its Global Infrastructure Partners, MGX, Microsoft and Nvidia to expand AI infrastructure.
"With this investment in Aligned Data Centers, we further our goal of delivering the infrastructure necessary to power the future of AI, while offering our clients attractive opportunities to participate in its growth," BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a statement.
BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners is reportedly in talks to acquire AES, a Virginia-based utility company whose customers include data center operators.
Dallas-based Aligned is a major provider of data centers, which are in heavy demand by hyperscalers and other tech companies. Artificial intelligence workloads and other cloud-computing applications are soaking up all available capacity.
Macquarie Company Grows Fast
Since Macquarie made its first investment in Aligned seven years ago, it has grown from two facilities in Dallas and Phoenix to 50 data centers today. It has operations and projects in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026 and is subject to regulatory approval.
This is Macquarie's second record-breaking data center deal in the past year. In 2024, it sold AirTrunk, which operates data centers in Australia and several Asian countries, to another consortium in a deal valued at about $16 billion.
In 2022, KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners in 2022 acquired CyrusOne, one of the largest data center operators, for $15 billion, according to DataXConnect.
BlackRock shares rose 0.6% Wednesday morning. They remain in buy range from the 1,171.89 buy point of a flat base, MarketSurge pattern recognition shows. The stock broke out in earnest Tuesday, after the firm beat third-quarter revenue and profit expectations. The buy zone goes to 1,230.48.
