Global asset manager Macquarie Asset Management is selling Aligned Data Centers (Aligned) to a consortium of investors.

The deal has an enterprise value of approximately $40 billion, making it the largest ever in the global data centre sector, the asset manager said on Thursday.

Aligned, based in Dallas, Texas, provides what it describes as “sustainable and adaptable” data centre solutions supporting hyperscale and enterprise customers across North and South America.

The company will be jointly acquired by the AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), MGX and BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners.

Macquarie Asset Management first invested in Aligned in April 2018 through its Infrastructure Partners IV fund.

It then acquired an additional stake in July 2020 through its Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V fund.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Under Macquarie’s ownership, the company expanded from two operating facilities in Dallas and Phoenix with a critical capacity of 85 MW to become a hyperscale data centre platform with over give GW of operating and planned capacity across 50 data centres in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

Commenting on the company’s value creation strategy, Ben Way, head of Macquarie Asset Management said: “The scaling of Aligned Data Centers from two locations to 50 in seven years is representative of our approach to working with great companies and teams to support their rapid growth and deliver positive impact.”

Macquarie Asset Management has been heavily investing in digital infrastructure over the past ten years, including in data centre platform operators AirTrunk, Aligned, Applied Digital, Bohao Internet Data Services, Hanam Data Centre, Netrality Data Centres and VIRTUS, as well as fibre optic networks and mobile towers.

The deal marks Macquarie Asset Management's second transaction in the data centre sector in the past year, following the sale of AirTrunk in 2024 to a consortium of investors that valued the company at £16 billion.

With around $588.1 billion in assets, Macquarie Asset Management provides a diverse range of investment solutions including real assets, real estate, credit and equities & multi-asset.

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