Citigroup forms new banking group to focus on AI infra, memo shows

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street giant Citigroup C.N has formed a new group to focus on opportunities in the red-hot artificial intelligence infrastructure space, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The new team is made up of leaders from Citi's investment banking and corporate banking teams. It will collaborate across sectors such as technology, communications, energy & power, real estate and crypto.

Here are some details:

• Investment bankers Ric Spencer, vice chair of technology, and Ashish Agrawal, co-head of real estate, will lead Citi's effort across the firm's investment banking coverage, the memo said.

• M&A banker Ben Mortimer, head of technology financing Alex Watkins, and head of technology corporate banking, Doug Baird, will also be part of the new team, according to the memo.

• Citi estimates that nearly $3 trillion is needed by 2030 to fund the creation of incremental data centers and other infrastructure capacity as AI adoption accelerates.

• "Sponsor-owned data center projects have scaled significantly, driving a shift in financing from equity to debt. During this build-out period, debt financing will need a combination of bank debt, private credit, infrastructure and real estate financing and structured IG debt," the memo said.