Blackstone, through its managed funds – Blackstone Real Estate Partners, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, and its private equity strategy for individual investors – along with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AirTrunk, a leading data center platform in the Asia Pacific region. The acquisition, valued at over A$24 billion, marks Blackstone’s largest investment in the region to date. AirTrunk is being acquired from Macquarie Asset Management and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and the transaction is subject to approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board.
AirTrunk is the largest data center platform in Asia Pacific, with a significant presence across Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The company currently boasts over 800MW of capacity committed to customers and holds land that can support over 1GW of future growth in the region.
Jon Gray, President and COO of Blackstone, emphasized the strategic nature of the acquisition, stating, “This is Blackstone at its best – utilizing our global platform to invest in our highest conviction themes. AirTrunk is another step forward in our goal to be the leading digital infrastructure investor worldwide, across data centers, power, and related services.”
Sean Klimczak, Global Head of Blackstone Infrastructure, and Nadeem Meghji, Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate, highlighted the surging demand for digital infrastructure, driven by the AI revolution and broader digitization of the economy. They noted that Blackstone’s portfolio already includes US$55 billion of data centers, with an additional US$70 billion in potential future development. “We are excited to work with the AirTrunk team to drive further growth,” they said.
Robin Khuda, Founder and CEO of AirTrunk, expressed confidence in the partnership with Blackstone and CPP Investments, citing the benefits of their capital scale, industry expertise, and network across local markets. “This transaction highlights the strength of the AirTrunk platform as we capture the next wave of growth from cloud services, AI, and energy transition in Asia Pacific,” Khuda said.
Globally, Blackstone is capitalizing on the surging demand for data centers, with expectations of approximately US$1 trillion in capital expenditures over the next five years in both the United States and abroad. Blackstone’s investments span both equity and debt in data centers, including ownership of QTS, Coreweave, and Digital Realty, alongside significant investments in power and utility companies such as Invenergy.
