Stack Infrastructure’s Asia-Pacific data centres have drawn bidders all summer. Now a consortium backed by BlackRock and IFM Investors has moved to the front of the line.
The group has entered exclusive talks to acquire the portfolio in a deal that could value the assets at up to $25 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are continuing and terms could still change, the people said.
Stack, which is owned by Blue Owl Capital, began exploring a sale of its Asia-Pacific business this summer, drawing interest from a long list of infrastructure funds. Blue Owl had initially sought a valuation of more than $30 billion for the assets, people with knowledge of the matter have said, and early readouts from the auction had pointed to a price of at least $25 billion.
The portfolio spans data centres in Tokyo, Osaka, Melbourne, Sydney and Johor Bahru in Malaysia, according to Stack’s website. It sits at the centre of the region’s scramble for computing power, where demand for server space has outpaced supply in several markets as companies rush to run artificial-intelligence workloads closer to their users.
The BlackRock and IFM consortium includes the BlackRock-backed Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership, known as AIP, which counts Microsoft, Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s MGX among its backers. The partnership teamed up with IFM for the bid, according to people familiar with the process.
Rivals had circled the assets for months. KKR, Brookfield Asset Management and DigitalBridge Group, which is being acquired by SoftBank, were among the potential suitors, people familiar with the matter said. Digital Realty, a New York-listed data-centre operator, had also been watching the auction, several people briefed on the sale said.
AIP was formed as a dedicated vehicle to deploy capital into data centres and the power that feeds them, and it has become one of the sector’s most active buyers in a short stretch. Pairing it with IFM, one of Australia’s largest infrastructure investors, gives the consortium both AI-specific capital and deep experience running long-lived physical assets.
Exclusivity is not a closing. Data-centre deals of this size routinely fall apart over price, financing or regulatory review, and the people cautioned that a final agreement could still be weeks away or never arrive. But the move to exclusive talks means BlackRock and IFM now have the field to themselves while they conduct due diligence.
The transaction, if completed, would be among the largest data-centre deals on record in the region. It is a measure of how much institutional capital now wants exposure to the physical infrastructure behind AI, and of how quickly data centres have gone from a niche property play to a core asset class for pension funds and private equity alike.
For BlackRock, the deal would deepen a push into AI infrastructure that has already produced AIP and a string of power and computing investments around the world. For IFM, the Australian pension-backed investor, it extends a footprint built across airports, roads and utilities into the fastest-growing corner of the digital economy.
The geography of the assets explains part of the interest. Japan and Australia are among the most sought-after data-centre markets in the region, and Johor Bahru, across the strait from Singapore, has become a landing point for AI computing after Singapore paused new builds over power constraints. A portfolio that reaches all three is rare.
Power, more than land, is now the binding constraint on the industry. Developers are chasing sites where electricity can actually be delivered, and buyers are paying for portfolios that already have grid access secured. Analysts said that premium is a large part of what a $25 billion price tag is buying.
The auction itself tells its own story. A collection of assets that drew bids from some of the world’s largest investors, at numbers that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, is now the standard by which the region’s data-centre market is measured. The price that finally clears will set expectations for every similar asset that comes to market.
For now, the process is private, the numbers are estimates, and the people involved are not named. What is clear is that the money chasing AI’s physical backbone is no longer a sideshow to the model builders. It is the main event. For all the money in motion, the deal’s fate still rests on a handful of negotiators agreeing on a number, and on the buyers’ conviction that demand for AI computing in Asia will keep rising for years. Blue Owl, for its part, must decide how much of the business to sell and at what price, a choice that will determine the return on a data-centre investment made only a few years ago.
