[Exclusive] Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. Invests $50 Million in U.S. AI Data Center Platform... Partners with Macquarie Group Limited [fn Market Watch]

[Financial News] Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. is investing domestic institutional funds in a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) data center development platform. Partnering with global infrastructure operator Macquarie Group Limited, the structure involves primarily investing in preferred shares of assets backed by investment-grade long-term lease agreements. As demand for AI infrastructure expands amid a shortage of data center supply, the alternative investment landscape for domestic institutions is expanding further into North America. In particular, as capital flows into AI-dedicated infrastructure, data centers are being reevaluated not merely as real estate but as strategic assets combining power, contracts, and operational capabilities. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd.'s latest investment is being interpreted as a signal that domestic institutions have fully entered the expansion phase of North American AI infrastructure.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 17th, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. recently established the 'Mirae Asset ADC General Private Equity Investment Trust No. 1' and is investing in the Applied Data Centers ADC platform led by Applied Digital Corporation, a U.S. Nasdaq-listed company. Domestic institutional investors have committed approximately $50 million (about KRW 67 billion). The funds will be deployed sequentially according to the progress of the projects.
The investment target, ADC, is a data center development and operations platform specializing in AI and high-performance computing (HPC), jointly developed by Applied Digital Corporation and Macquarie Group Limited.
The investment is structured primarily through preferred shares, which rank ahead of common shares in repayment priority. It also includes some linked common shares, allowing investors to pursue additional returns from an increase in the platform's value.
What makes this transaction noteworthy is that it targets assets for which lease agreements have already been secured. As of the end of May this year, Applied Data Centers had secured long-term lease agreements totaling approximately 1,410 MW across five campuses, including North Dakota and Louisiana.
The counterparties are major global hyperscalers, and the agreements are take-or-pay arrangements with long-term lease terms. The total contract value is approximately $36 billion. Some campuses are already operational, while the remainder are scheduled to enter service sequentially from the end of this year through 2027.
Macquarie Group Limited has already completed a $2.9 billion fundraising round and is raising an additional $2.3 billion, securing total investment resources of approximately $5.2 billion. The fund in which Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. participated effectively entered as an investor in the second round. The IB industry took note of the fact that a domestic institution accessed the early development stage of a large-scale AI infrastructure project through a preferred-share structure.
The market environment is also favorable. Although demand in the North American data center market is growing rapidly due to the spread of AI, supply is failing to keep pace because of difficulties securing power and sites, as well as obtaining permits. According to major research reports, a significant portion of North American data center development capacity has already been pre-leased, and rents continue to rise. Hyperscalers in particular are competing to secure capacity by building data centers themselves or pre-leasing them on a long-term basis, making the ability to secure power and land a key competitive advantage.
In this environment, Applied Data Centers is focusing on frontier markets. Its strengths include the ability to pursue large-scale development by leveraging available grid capacity, low electricity costs, and expansive sites. Applied Data Centers is known to have established separate organizations for securing sites in advance and sourcing power, while using an option structure to reduce its initial capital burden and preserve future expansion capacity. It currently has a pipeline capable of expanding beyond 4 GW.
Regarding the transaction, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. said it had broadened the avenue for institutional investors to participate in large-scale U.S. data center development projects that are difficult to access independently. A company official said, "Through co-investment opportunities provided by global asset managers, we have enabled domestic institutions to participate in the development stages of large-scale U.S. data centers that were previously difficult for them to access," adding, "We plan to continue identifying high-quality investment opportunities in the infrastructure sector and making them available to domestic investors."
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