Catenaa, Wednesday, October 01, 2025- BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners is nearing a $38bn deal to buy utility group AES in what would be one of the largest infrastructure takeovers of all time.
GIP, a pioneer of specialised infrastructure takeovers, is poised to acquire AES within the coming days, the Financial Times reported. GIP owns stakes in London’s Gatwick airport and large pipeline networks in the US and the Middle East.
The deal will value AES at around $38bn, including its large debts. The talks were at an advanced stage, but could still fail to yield a deal.
AES, one of the largest publicly traded utilities in the US, owns and operates power plants across the country and in 13 other nations.
It has invested heavily in recent years in renewable energy grids, which play a crucial role in supplying power to data centres owned by technology giants such as Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet.
AES shares rose by over 15% on Wednesday following the news report. The stock is up by over 16% so far in the year.
AES carries $29 billion in debt, including more than $5 billion at its parent company. Its market capitalisation is at $10.7 billion, implying an enterprise value of more than $39 billion.
As the energy needed for artificial intelligence fuels an uptick in power demand, large infrastructure funds have seized on the need for more data centre capacity.
Companies such as Meta and Oracle are also working on their own debt-financed data centre projects.
BlackRock acquired GIP last year for $12.5bn and now manages nearly $200bn in assets worldwide, making it one of the largest specialised infrastructure investment groups globally. GIP has a history with the utility sector.
