Data centers have a simple function: they house the servers, power systems, and cooling infrastructure that run the digital world. What has changed dramatically is the scale of investment required to build them, the creditworthiness of the tenants leasing them, and the interest of institutional capital in financing them. Blue Owl Capital entered this market directly in January 2025 through a $1 billion acquisition of IPI Partners, a fund manager with over 80 global data centers in its portfolio — placing the firm at the center of the AI infrastructure buildout at exactly the moment capital demand was accelerating.

IPI Partners brought specialized deal-sourcing (finance.yahoo.com/quote/OWL/) relationships with hyperscalers and co-location operators, along with a team experienced in underwriting the specific risks of data center real estate: power availability, location permitting, cooling infrastructure, and contractual lease terms. Those capabilities gave Blue Owl’s Real Assets platform a foundation to compete for some of the largest infrastructure financings in the market.

From Acquisition to the Largest Deal in Private Credit History

Nine months after the IPI acquisition closed, Blue Owl Capital completed the Hyperion financing with Meta Platforms — a $27 billion joint venture for a 4-million-square-foot campus, as detailed in the official press release detailing the BDC asset sale in Louisiana, structured as the largest private credit transaction ever executed. Blue Owl-managed funds hold 80% of the joint venture; Meta retains 20% and operational control. The transaction combined off-balance-sheet treatment, investment-grade credit, and a residual value guarantee.

Co-CEO Marc Lipschultz highlighted the scale of the opportunity during his Feb. 6, 2026 Squawk Box appearance, noting that hyperscalers have announced $650 billion in planned capital spending. “We are the leading firm providing those capital solutions,” he said. The firm also pursued financing related to Oracle’s Project Stargate and other hyperscale infrastructure programs in the same period.

How Data Centers Fit into the Credit Framework

For credit underwriters, data center financing resembles infrastructure lending more than real estate speculation. Key underwriting variables are tenant credit quality, lease duration, power capacity, and residual asset value. Long-term leases with investment-grade counterparties — the same tenants leasing server racks at Hyperion — create cash flow characteristics similar to utility or toll-road bonds.

Blue Owl Capital’s Real Assets platform grew 63% year over year, according to Blue Owl’s $1.4 billion institutional BDC transaction, reaching $80.6 billion by year-end 2025. Morgan Stanley estimates that AI data centers globally will require approximately $800 billion in private credit capital between 2025 and 2028 (linkedin.com/company/blue-owl-capital). For a firm that completed the largest deal in the asset class’s history in 2025, the pipeline ahead is substantial.