BlackRock-backed group in exclusive talks for Asia data centers

A consortium that includes the BlackRock-backed Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) and IFM Investors has entered exclusive talks with Blue Owl Capital Inc. to acquire Stack Infrastructure's Asia-Pacific data centers. A deal could value the portfolio at $20 billion to $25 billion. The buyers are preparing due diligence. Blue Owl had earlier sought more than $30 billion. The data centers are in Tokyo, Osaka, Melbourne, Sydney, and Johor Bahru, Malaysia. AIP's founders include BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners, Microsoft Corp., and Mubadala-backed MGX. Nvidia Corp., the Kuwait Investment Authority, and Temasek Holdings are also AIP investors. AIP's first deal was a $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers announced in October; that deal, per Crypto Briefing, gave control of more than 51 campuses and over 6.4 gigawatts of capacity. Contested: none found. Unresolved: the talks remain open and could drag on, fall apart, or attract other bidders. No final agreement has been announced.