Private infrastructure capital is making its move to own the foundational layer of the AI revolution: electricity.
According to Bloomberg reports, BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and EQT AB are in advanced talks to acquire U.S. power giant AES Corp (AES). This potential take-private deal highlights a massive shift in how mega-funds are approaching the energy transition and the artificial intelligence boom.
💰 THE DEAL DYNAMICS:
- The Target: AES Corp operates regulated utilities in Indiana and Ohio, alongside a massive, diversified fleet of renewable (wind/solar) and legacy (natural gas/coal) generation assets.
- The Valuation: Shares jumped 6.7% on the news, pushing AES’s market cap to roughly $11.6 billion (with a total enterprise value, including debt, that is significantly higher).
- The Timeline: A formal announcement could drop as soon as next week. In a major signaling move, AES abruptly rescheduled its full-year earnings release to March 3.
🔋 THE MACRO DRIVER: BIG TECH’S POWER HUNGER This isn’t just a standard utility buyout; it is an AI infrastructure play.
- The Grid Strain: The relentless build-out of data centers running complex AI applications is fundamentally straining the U.S. electrical grid and dramatically lifting long-term power demand forecasts.
- The Strategic Fit: AES is already a key provider of renewable power to hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. By acquiring AES, GIP and EQT are securing a massive, reliable generation portfolio that sits perfectly at the intersection of digitalization and decarbonization.
💡 ANALYST TAKEAWAY: We are witnessing the aggressive convergence of private equity, energy, and technology. Funds like GIP (which recently led a $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers) recognize that you cannot capitalize on the AI boom without controlling the underlying power supply. If finalized, this transaction proves that taking entire publicly traded utilities private is becoming the preferred playbook for deploying the hundreds of billions in dry powder dedicated to the infrastructure supercycle.
👇 Infrastructure & PE Investors: Do you expect to see more regulated U.S. utilities targeted by private capital this year as the data center power crunch intensifies?