SoftBank Nears Deal for Data Center Investment Firm DigitalBridge, Bloomberg Reports

SoftBank Group is in advanced talks to acquire DigitalBridge Group, a private equity firm that invests in assets such as data centers, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported.

The Japanese conglomerate could announce an agreement as soon as Monday for New York-listed DigitalBridge, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Terms of the transaction, part of SoftBank’s campaign to take advantage of an AI-driven boom in digital infrastructure, couldn’t be learned.

A final agreement hasn’t been reached and details, including the timing, could still change, the people said.

DigitalBridge shares surged almost 20% in overnight trading.

Shares of DigitalBridge, which had fallen 13% this year before Bloomberg News first reported the talks on Dec. 5, rose 45% that day. The company now has a market value of about $2.5 billion. Including debt, the company has an enterprise value of $3.8 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

SoftBank’s billionaire founder Masayoshi Son is trying to capitalize on soaring demand for the computing capacity that underpins artificial intelligence applications.

DigitalBridge, led by Chief Executive Officer Marc Ganzi, had about $108 billion of assets under management at the end of September, according to its website. Its portfolio includes digital infrastructure operators such as AIMS, AtlasEdge, DataBank, Switch, Vantage Data Centers and Yondr Group.