Blackstone Lays More Groundwork for Data Center REIT

The chatter around a Blackstone data center acquisition company is growing, even as the sector faces growing backlash and headwinds.

On Friday, the investment giant registered Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bisnow reported. It submitted the required form for a real estate investment trust initial public offering, though the company said the launch was contingent on other factors and may never materialize.

An IPO could raise $2 billion for the entity, according to Bloomberg. The firm already reportedly began seeking initial investments from sovereign wealth funds and other institutions.

Should it come to fruition, the entity will invest in data centers that are already up and running and leased, avoiding development projects or raw land. It also reportedly will not acquire assets from other funds within the Blackstone umbrella.

Goldman Sachs is leading the IPO offering, which could formally launch this month. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are also involved.

Public data center REITs are strong performers. Shares of the largest data center REITs, Equinix and Digital Realty, are up 30 percent over the last 12 months. Over the same period, the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITS index is returning a comparatively lax 10 percent.

Blackstone knows the data center world well. Last year, the private equity giant joined forces with Humain, Saudi Arabia’s state-backed artificial intelligence company, on a $3 billion push to build data centers across the Gulf nation. The project will be developed through AirTrunk, the Asia-Pacific operator Blackstone and Canada’s pension fund took private for $16 billion in 2024.

Blackstone also acquired QTS Realty Trust for $10 billion in 2021 and has doubled its valuation, counting more than 75 properties online or under development as of August. That month, the data center arm secured $1.65 billion in financing through bond sales to fund developments across the country.

But data centers may be in danger of losing their luster as issues with power and energy supply increase and local opposition continues to grow.

Capacity under construction for data centers declined last year for the first time since 2020, dropping to 5.99 gigawatts at the end of 2025 from 6.35 gigawatts a year earlier, according to CBRE.

— Holden Walter-Warner