Zhitong Finance App learned that according to people familiar with the matter, the alternative asset management company Blue Owl Capital (OWL.US) is planning to establish a real estate investment trust (REIT) focusing on data center assets and push it to enter the capital market through an initial public offering (IPO). As artificial intelligence infrastructure construction continues to heat up, data center companies are rapidly flocking to the IPO market, and Blue Owl also hopes to use the open market to further expand its data center investment footprint.
People familiar with the matter said that the proposed data center REIT is expected to raise capital through an IPO and may obtain more capital by issuing further shares after listing. One of the sources familiar with the matter revealed that Blue Owl may first inject its own data center assets worth around $6.5 billion into the new REIT to establish its initial asset base.
If the plan is finally implemented, Blue Owl will be able to integrate some of its data center assets into an independent public trading platform and establish new financing channels through the IPO and subsequent stock issuance to provide financial support for further acquisition, development and expansion of data center assets. Currently, the relevant plans are still in progress, and the specific IPO size, valuation and listing time have not been disclosed.
Affected by the news, Blue Owl's stock price rose 0.93% to $11.95 in early Friday trading. Other data center REITs also rose at the same time. Equinix (EQIX.US) rose 0.30% to $1,044, and Digital Realty (DLR.US) rose 0.69% to $189.08.
Behind the company's current plan is the continued rise in data center investment demand brought about by the AI boom. Demand for computing power, electricity, and data center capacity is growing rapidly as large technology companies and cloud computing vendors are building AI infrastructure. At the same time, data center construction requires a large amount of capital, which also encourages operators and asset managers to increasingly use channels such as IPOs, bonds, private credit, and REITs to raise capital.
Blue Owl isn't the only major asset manager trying to expand its data center business through the open market. In May of this year, Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust (BXDC.US), the newly established data center REIT of Blackstone Group (BXDC.US), completed an IPO in the US, issuing 87.5 million shares at $20 each, raising a total of about 1.75 billion US dollars.
In addition, Csquare (CSQR.US), a data center operator supported by Brookfield (BN.US), has also entered the capital market, issued 50 million shares at $21 per share, and raised about 1.05 billion US dollars in an IPO.
Now Blue Owl plans to join the ranks, further showing that the AI boom is driving data center assets into the open capital market at an accelerated pace. Compared to some businesses that need to gradually build up their asset portfolios, Blue Owl's proposed REIT may initially be based on approximately $6.5 billion in data center assets. For Blue Owl, setting up a data center REIT means more than just listing existing assets. If the new company successfully enters the capital market, it is expected to become a long-term data center asset integration and financing platform. After receiving initial capital through an IPO, it will then use subsequent stock issuance to raise capital to acquire or build more data centers.