Milbank LLP advised global infrastructure investment manager Wren House Infrastructure Management Limited, the direct infrastructure investments arm of the Kuwait Investment Authority, in connection with The Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership ("AIP"), MGX, and BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners' ("GIP") (collectively, the "Consortium") successful completion of the acquisition of 100% of the equity in Aligned Data Centers ("Aligned") from private infrastructure funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management and its co-invest partners. The transaction, which represents Aligned's enterprise value of approximately $40 billion, stands as one of the largest private investments made to date in digital infrastructure.
Aligned, one of the largest and fastest growing data center companies globally, designs, builds, and operates cutting-edge data campuses and data centers for the world’s premier hyperscalers, neocloud, and enterprise innovators. Since Macquarie Asset Management's initial investment in 2018, Aligned has expanded from two operational facilities and 85 MW of critical capacity to a leading hyperscale data center platform with 51 campuses and more than 6.4 GW of operational and planned capacity across the Americas, establishing itself as a leading provider of innovative, sustainable and adaptive data center solutions for hyperscale and enterprise customers.
The Milbank team was led by Global Corporate/M&A partner and Head of Milbank’s Global Infrastructure practice John Franchini and Global Corporate/M&A partner Aaron Stine with associates Sarah Griffin, Jackie Karol and Gavin Small. The team also included Tax partners Andrew Walker and Max Goodman and special counsel Michael Rivkin; Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance partner Jenna McGrath; Global Risk & National Security partner John Beahn and associate Clayton Melton; Environmental partner Thomas Goslin; and Corporate Finance and Securities partner Paul Denaro.
