Spain’s ACS (ACS.MC) and BlackRock Global Infrastructure Partners (BLK.N) have announced a major joint venture to develop a 2 billion euro ($2.33 billion), 1.7-gigawatt portfolio of data centres across Europe, the United States, and Australia. Both companies will hold a 50% stake in the partnership, which signals a significant step in meeting the growing demand for AI and cloud computing infrastructure.

Strategic Joint Venture Details

The new platform will incorporate ACS’s existing data centre portfolio and expand into a pipeline of projects exceeding 11 GW across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. ACS reported that the transaction will generate a 100 million euro capital gain for the company.

Under the terms of the deal, the partners will initially invest around 1 billion euros, with an additional variable payment of up to 1 billion euros linked to the commercialisation of the projects. An additional contingent payment of 200 million euros could also be obtained from projects currently under review.

ACS has already constructed over 5.5 GW of data centre capacity, demonstrating its strong track record in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects.

Market Context and Future Potential

According to newspaper Expansion, the full partnership could be valued at 23 billion euros, including 5 billion euros in equity and 18 billion euros in debt, highlighting the substantial financial scale of the initiative. The joint venture positions ACS and BlackRock to capitalize on the surging demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence applications, and hyperscale data centres globally.

The companies aim to accelerate the development of projects that serve hyperscale cloud providers, tech companies, and AI platforms, making the joint venture a key player in the rapidly expanding global data centre market.

Significance for ACS and BlackRock

For ACS, the partnership represents a strategic opportunity to monetize and expand its data centre portfolio, while BlackRock gains exposure to critical digital infrastructure assets with long-term growth potential.

Emma Pinedo and Corina Pons reported the news for Reuters, with editing by Jesús Aguado and Jan Harvey.