Blackstone-led consortium nears $13.5 billion deal to acquire AirTrunk, source says

By Kane Wu and Gnaneshwar Rajan

(Reuters) -A consortium led by Blackstone is nearing a deal to acquire Australian data centre group AirTrunk for A$20 billion ($13.53 billion) including debt, a person with knowledge of the situation said on Monday.

Blackstone and its partner, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), emerged as the preferred buyer for AirTrunk, after outbidding a rival investor group, the person said, declining to be named as the information was private.

The deal could be announced in the coming days, the person said.

Bloomberg first reported the news on Monday, adding that AirTrunk owners Macquarie Group and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board are negotiating final details of a transaction.

Blackstone and CPPIB declined to comment, while AirTrunk, Macquarie and PSP did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Reuters reported last week that two bidding groups led by Blackstone and IFM Investors lodged final offers on Tuesday to buy AirTrunk.

The IFM-led consortium consists of DigitalBridge, GIP, Mubadala’s MGX and Silver Lake.

Macquarie and PSP own 88% of the data centre business but have not disclosed their individual stakes.

($1 = 1.4782 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala & Shri Navaratnam)