DigitalBridge Group agreed to acquire ArcLight Capital Partners, a North American power and electric infrastructure investor, for a total transaction value of up to $1.05 billion, the company said Tuesday. Structurally, the transaction is composed of a $650 million base price with an additional contingent component of as much as $400 million.
Together, the two firms would form a platform targeting what DigitalBridge describes as the intersection of power, AI, and digital infrastructure, with their combined assets exceeding $150 billion. ArcLight will operate as a separately managed business within DigitalBridge following the close of the transaction.
The deal is conditioned on completion of SoftBank Group Corp.'s previously announced acquisition of DigitalBridge and will not alter the terms or consideration of that transaction. The deal is also subject to regulatory approvals and requisite limited partner consents.
Since its founding in 2001, ArcLight's portfolio has encompassed upwards of 70 gigawatts of generation capacity and roughly 48,000 miles of electric and gas transmission and storage infrastructure, with an aggregate enterprise value exceeding $90 billion. Its North American operations are backed by a dedicated 85-person power development team and a development pipeline that surpasses 15 gigawatts.
"AI is rewiring the global power equation, accelerating investment across generation, transmission, and behind-the-meter infrastructure," DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi said in a statement. "We believe the firms best positioned for this next phase of growth will be those that are able to underwrite both digital and energy infrastructure with equal depth and credibility."
Daniel Revers, founder of ArcLight, will become Vice Chairman of DigitalBridge upon completion of the transaction. Angelo Acconcia, currently Managing Partner of ArcLight, will continue in that role, and Jake Erhard, currently a Partner at ArcLight, will become Senior Partner.
"Power has become the critical bottleneck for digital infrastructure buildout, and solving it takes expertise and dedicated people," Angelo Acconcia said in a statement.
The deal arrives as power availability has become a central constraint on data center development. As Quartz has tracked the widening gap between electricity demand and grid capacity, the pace of high-voltage transmission construction has slowed sharply while hyperscalers race to bring tens of gigawatts of new load online, creating structural bottlenecks in interconnection queues, equipment supply chains, and permitting timelines.
Barclays is acting as financial advisor and sole committed financing provider to DigitalBridge. Morgan Stanley $MS is serving as financial advisor to ArcLight.