BlackRock-MGX consortium closes $40B Aligned Data Centers acquisition, commits $5B more for AI capacity

A consortium anchored by BlackRock and Abu Dhabi sovereign fund MGX closed its $40 billion acquisition of Dallas-based Aligned Data Centers on Tuesday, then immediately committed an additional $5 billion in growth capital for AI-optimized infrastructure expansion. The deal values Aligned at roughly 22x forward EBITDA, according to infrastructure desk estimates, placing it in the top decile of hyperscale data center transactions by earnings multiple.

Aligned operates 28 facilities across North America, with a combined power capacity approaching 2.5 gigawatts—enough to support approximately 500,000 high-density GPU racks under sustained load. The company specializes in wholesale colocation for hyperscalers and AI training clusters, a segment where power delivery timelines now exceed 36 months in tier-one markets. The $5 billion growth commitment targets five new campuses, four in Texas and one in Virginia, with first steel expected in Q4 2025. BlackRock Infrastructure Partners led the buyer consortium; MGX contributed an estimated $12 billion, marking its largest single infrastructure deployment outside energy.

The multiple reflects two realities allocators are pricing into data center assets. First, forward contracted capacity—Aligned has 87% of its next 24 months of inventory pre-leased to three hyperscalers under take-or-pay structures. Second, the $5 billion growth capital commitment signals the buyers are underwriting replacement-cost economics, not stabilized yield. New hyperscale capacity in Virginia's Loudoun County now costs $18-22 million per megawatt to deliver, up 63% since 2021, driven by transformer lead times and utility interconnection queues. Aligned's existing portfolio was built at $11-14 million per megawatt. The consortium is effectively buying below-market basis and immediately reinvesting at current replacement cost to capture the spread.

The timing matters. Utility interconnection agreements in Texas ERCOT zones are now quoting Q1 2028 delivery for new 100+ megawatt loads, creating a hard supply ceiling through the end of the decade. Aligned holds 18 executed interconnection agreements across its Texas footprint, representing 1.1 gigawatts of future capacity with power delivery already secured. That pipeline alone justifies a replacement-value bid in a market where forward power commitments trade as standalone assets. MGX's participation also marks a shift in sovereign infrastructure strategy—Abu Dhabi moving from passive LP stakes to control equity in physical infrastructure with contracted dollar-denominated cash flows.

Allocators should track three follow-on signals. First, whether the consortium syndicates minority stakes to insurance or pension capital within 90 days, which would establish a mark and potentially indicate leverage optimization. Second, Aligned's customer concentration—if the hyperscaler pre-leases are split across AWS, Microsoft, and Google, or if one tenant represents more than 40% of forward capacity. Third, MGX's next six months of North American infrastructure deployments, which will clarify whether this is a one-time allocation or the opening position in a multi-year build cycle. BlackRock Infrastructure has $58 billion under management; a $40 billion single-asset acquisition represents 69% of total AUM, suggesting either fund-level concentration or a new dedicated vehicle.

Aligned's existing lenders—a syndicate led by JPMorgan and Wells Fargo—were refinanced at close with a new $8.2 billion term loan priced at SOFR plus 275 basis points, tighter than the 325 basis points on the prior facility, indicating credit desks are underwriting data center assets closer to regulated utility risk profiles than traditional real estate.