We attended the 2025 North America M&A Dealmaking Trends in Digital Infrastructure and Technology webinar, hosted by SS&C Intralinks with TMT Finance, where Senior M&A leaders from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Bank Street shared their perspectives on capital formation, regulatory shifts, and grid constraints shaping data center–driven dealmaking.
Below are key takeaways from the discussion, along with themes we are seeing in our own digital infrastructure practice.
Key Takeaways
- Raising Capital Is Getting Harder: Private
investors are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the
pace of digital infrastructure growth. The demand for fully built
and stabilized assets now outweighs the amount of equity available
at attractive returns. As a result, developers and funds are
looking at different ways to raise money—through more
creative deal structures or by exploring when and how public
markets might step in.
- Creative Structures Are Becoming the Norm:
Because traditional financing often doesn't cover the needs of
large-scale development, joint ventures and forward-sale
arrangements are becoming more common. In forward sales, for
example, investors put in money up front, which allows developers
to free up cash quickly and start new projects. These kinds of
approaches are becoming critical in a market where high leverage
and development risk can otherwise limit access to capital.
- Public Market Money Comes With Strings
Attached: Public investors are cautious about digital
infrastructure. They expect developers to meet a high
bar—lower leverage, proven operations, long-term customer
contracts, and secure access to land and power. Without those
conditions, IPOs or similar offerings are unlikely to succeed. This
caution only adds to the existing gap between the capital needed
for projects and the capital available.
- Power and Land Are Now the Biggest
Bottlenecks: Securing power capacity and suitable sites
has become one of the biggest hurdles for new data center projects.
Developers are increasingly partnering with utilities and
independent power producers to lock in access and share the
economics. Delays in interconnection and power supply are directly
affecting deal terms. Expectations for exclusively
"green" energy, while still important, are being tempered
so projects aren't stalled waiting for renewable supply.
- Fundraising and M&A Are Shifting: Fund managers are still raising money, but often in new formats—such as retail-focused funds or vehicles designed for minority stakes—that offer more flexibility and immediate returns. At the same time, large sponsors with strong development pipelines may hold off on acquisitions, preferring not to dilute their returns by bringing in partners. In many cases, the internal economics of a fund are influencing whether deals get done as much as traditional strategic fit.
What to Watch
- Ongoing Capital Shortage: The gap between the
money needed for projects and the money available to fund them is
not going away. Expect developers and investors to rely more on
creative structures and careful recycling of capital from one
project to the next.
- Selective Public Market Opportunities: Access
to public markets will stay limited. IPOs or REIT-style vehicles
are only likely to work if projects meet strict standards on
leverage, scale, long-term contracts, and operational track
record.
- Power as the Deciding Factor: Access to
reliable power is now the key issue determining whether projects
move forward. Grid capacity and interconnection delays will
directly affect deal volume, timing, and commercial terms. The
ability for local utility providers to keep up with demand will be
key.
- Fund Incentives Driving M&A: Internal fund dynamics—such as concentration in existing platforms and pressure to hit return targets—will shape M&A decisions as much as traditional strategic fit. In many cases, whether a fund can afford to share economics will be the deciding factor in whether deals happen.
These trends mirror what we are seeing across our digital infrastructure practice, and in particular in our market-leading data center practice, where developers, funds, and utilities are collaborating to address both capital and power constraints as well as the increasing importance of ensuring that data center developments have ready access to abundant water resources. Our practice across the digital infrastructure landscape includes representation of private equity and other investors, lenders, developers and operators, and also includes world-class expertise in all aspects of the energy/power industry and all related Federal, state and local regulatory, environmental and tax regimes. We are leaders in matters involving data centers, fiber networks, cell towers, telecom companies and spectrum, and we are a global leader in subsea cable transactions. We would be pleased to discuss how we can help you execute your growth or investment strategy.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
