TPG has moved to acquire Netrality Data Centers from Macquarie Asset Management in a transaction valued at up to $3 billion, according to market sources. The target operates an 18-property portfolio with more than 100 megawatts of capacity, concentrated in secondary and Tier 2 markets where hyperscale tenants are increasingly forced to deploy.

Netrality's footprint includes Kansas City, St. Louis, and Philadelphia—metros where incumbent fiber infrastructure and lower power costs have made colocation expansion economically viable as Northern Virginia, Phoenix, and Dallas exhaust near-term capacity. Macquarie originally backed the operator in 2018, rolling up regional assets during a period when hyperscale tenants still prioritized primary markets. The portfolio has since pivoted toward edge-adjacent builds and enterprise hybrid deployments, capturing tenants priced out of Tier 1 markets or seeking latency arbitrage.

The $3 billion valuation implies roughly $30 million per megawatt, a multiple that reflects two realities. First, Netrality's properties sit on long-term power contracts signed before the 2023-2024 surge in utility demand from AI workloads, giving the buyer margin protection other platforms lack. Second, secondary-market data center NOI multiples compressed through 2024 as capital fled to liquid, hyperscale-adjacent plays—TPG is betting that dispersion reverses as availability tightens. The firm has deployed $6.4 billion into digital infrastructure since 2021, including stakes in Astound Broadband and Cirion Technologies, and has telegraphed a preference for operational platforms over development-stage risk.

For allocators, this signals two things. One: the migration of hyperscale overflow into Tier 2 metros is no longer speculative—it is being priced at institutional multiples by a Tier 1 buyer with a decade of infra returns to protect. Two: Macquarie's exit, after a roughly six-year hold, marks the end of the post-2018 data center roll-up window. The next vintage of secondary-market assets will command steeper entry prices, shorter lease cushions, and execution risk on power procurement that did not exist in prior cycles.

Operators and allocators should watch for three follow-ons. TPG will need to refinance or syndicate roughly $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion of the purchase price within six months if the deal closes at the high end—watch for a club of infra LPs or a securitization if debt markets cooperate. Netrality's enterprise tenant base will face re-contracting conversations as soon as Q4 2026, and any churn will surface quickly in NOI multiples for comparable secondary portfolios. Finally, Macquarie's capital rotation out of U.S. colocation and into European fiber or APAC towers will clarify whether the firm views domestic data center margins as peaked or simply overcrowded.

TPG's pursuit arrives as 47 gigawatts of hyperscale capacity are under contract or construction globally, with 18% of that volume now targeting non-primary U.S. metros—a figure that stood at 6% in early 2023.