Private equity firm Blackstone Group, along with its Canadian counterpart CPP Investments, is in the process of finalizing loan of a great amount equivalent of A$5. 5 billion(approx $3. 7 billion) to fund the acquisition of AirTrunk which is Asia Pacific’s largest hyperscale data center company founded by Robin Khuda. The deal, worth A$24bn, forms a continued strategy of Blackstone to ramp up operations in the Asia region especially in domains that are fundamentally powered by artificial intelligence and escalating demand for capacity.
Authors of the article have established that K-ratings the package contains of A$ 2 billion term loan and A$ 3. 5 billion revolving credit facility. More than 10 banks are involved in the loan syndication and these include; credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, MUFG and many others. Such financial institutions remain interested in AirTrunk’s prospects for growth even when the acquisition multiples are at a sky-high level reaching 20 times the company’s EBITDA, which would look quite unreasonable typically.
Blackstone said that the loan would partly finance 45% of the equity investment for AirTrunk and the rest of the funding for the acquisition will be sourced through Blackstone’s equity, while AirTrunk’s approximately A$4. 6 billion of outstanding debt will be rolled over immediately after the acquisition. The representatives of Blackstone, CPP Investments, and the participating banks have not shared the details regarding the deal because it is confidential.
The transaction ranks as the second largest acquisition loan in the area this year and shows investors’ confidence in the data center sector which remains driven by AI demand and tremendous opportunities in Asia.
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