AirTunk Data Centre Portfolio Acquisition

Project Overview

In 2024, Blackstone, in partnership with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, acquired AirTrunk for over A$24 billion, marking one of the largest data centre transactions in Asia-Pacific history. AirTrunk is a hyperscale data centre platform serving major cloud, content, and enterprise customers across the region. The company operates large-scale campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka, and Hong Kong, with aggressive expansion plans to meet surging AI and cloud demand. The acquisition was underpinned by confidence in AirTrunk’s build-to-scale model, its ability to deliver infrastructure rapidly, and its strategic presence in key regional digital hubs.

TBH has partnered with AirTrunk since its startup phase in 2016, helping the business expand into new markets across APAC with industry leading on-time, on-budget construction performance.

TBH’s Role

TBH played a significant role in the transaction, providing technical due diligence services for the sell-side team.

TBH’s technical due diligence assessment focused on three key elements to evaluate the risks, opportunities, and value of AirTrunk’s extensive data centre portfolio across the Asia-Pacific region.

Asset Evaluation
• Reviewed power systems, cooling infrastructure, network connectivity, and physical security measures to assess capacity, efficiency, and reliability.
• Construction and Operational Performance & Systems
• Evaluated project CAPEX/OPEX budgets, feasibility of current and future projects, timelines, and potential risks.
• Design, Scalability and Expansion
• Analysed the design specifications, performance, and quality of existing and future data centres.
• Environmental
• Assessment of risks associated with hazmat and environmental remediation measures at each of the sites in the portfolio
• Assessment of adequacy of AirTrunk’s enterprise level ESG systems

The TBH Difference

What sets TBH apart in our support of AirTrunk’s development is the depth and continuity of our involvement—from startup phase through to its record-breaking A$24 billion acquisition by Blackstone and CPPIB.

Since 2016, we’ve been a trusted advisor, enabling AirTrunk to scale rapidly across the Asia-Pacific by ensuring each expansion was delivered on time, on budget, and aligned with investor expectations.

Our data-led planning, risk management, and delivery assurance were instrumental in building the confidence that underpinned the deal—Australia’s largest M&A transaction in 2024 and the largest-ever data centre acquisition globally.