Bain Capital acquires majority stake in AQ Compute from Aquila Group

Hamburg/ Munich — Bain Capi­tal, one of the world’s leading private multi-asset invest­ment firms, and Aquila Group, a private invest­ment firm and pioneer in sustainable inves­t­ing, announce a signi­fi­cant part­ner­ship in the data center sector. As part of the colla­bo­ra­tion, Bain Capi­tal is acqui­ring an 80% stake in AQ Compute, the data center subsi­diary of Aquila Group. This stra­te­gic alli­ance, with a target invest­ment volume of seve­ral billion euros, is expec­ted to signi­fi­cantly acce­le­rate AQ Compute’s plans to deve­lop and operate sustainable data centers for hypers­cale and AI custo­mers across Europe. Foun­ded in 2020 by Aquila Group, AQ Comp ute offers modu­lar and AI-enab­­led data center and colo­ca­tion services powered prima­rily by green energy. With signi­fi­cant invest­ment, the company laun­ched its first sustainable data center near Oslo in 2024 — with further projects plan­ned in Barce­lona, Milan and beyond. Bain Capi­tal is support­ing this growth with capi­tal invest­ment and global exper­tise in the data center indus­try, inclu­ding the successful deve­lo­p­ment of Bridge Data Centres in Asia. Toge­ther, the part­ners aim to build a leading Euro­pean data center plat­form with the goal of using green energy where­ver possible. 

Ali Haroon, a part­ner at Bain Capi­tal, said: “The Euro­pean data center market has an attrac­tive supply-demand imba­lance driven by strong cloud demand, the need for high perfor­mance compu­ting and AI deploy­ments, and data sove­reig­nty in the region. Through this part­ner­ship with Aquila Group, we bring a diffe­ren­tia­ted perspec­tive on rene­wa­ble energy to address the ever-growing power supply chal­lenges in this important part of Europe’s infra­struc­ture.” Rafael Coste Campos, a Mana­ging Direc­tor at Bain Capi­tal, said: “We are exci­ted to bring our deep exper­tise in the Euro­pean real estate sector and our diverse expe­ri­ence in buil­ding busi­nesses with complex infra­struc­ture services, tenant rela­ti­onships and talent acqui­si­tion to this plat­form. By lever­aging our global data center exper­tise, we are well posi­tio­ned to meet the needs of this ever-growing and criti­cally important sector and build a market-leading data center opera­tion in Europe.” Roman Ross­len­broich (photo: Aquila), co-foun­­der and CEO of Aquila Group, commen­ted: “Through our part­ner­ship with Bain Capi­tal, we are well posi­tio­ned to expand AQ Compute’s capa­bi­li­ties and cement its role as a key player in Europe’s digi­tal infra­struc­ture. The rapid growth in data demand is both a chall­enge and an oppor­tu­nity — more data centers are essen­tial, but they must be sustainable. Aquila will invest seve­ral hundred million euros along­side Bain Capital’s larger commit­ment, with Aquila Capi­tal provi­ding co-inves­t­­ment. Through an actively mana­ged 20% stake, we are helping AQ Compute grow in line with our long-term vision of sustainable infra­struc­ture. At the same time, we are unlo­cking syner­gies with Aquila Clean Energy, a leading deve­lo­per and inde­pen­dent produ­cer in the green energy sector.” Markus Holzer, Chair­man of AQ Compute, said: “At AQ Compute, we are uniquely posi­tio­ned to meet the growing demand for data proces­sing by combi­ning an inno­va­tive, AI-enab­­led infra­struc­ture with a commit­ment to sustaina­bi­lity. The part­ner­ship with Bain Capi­tal acce­le­ra­tes our deve­lo­p­ment pipe­line and enables us to set new stan­dards for sustainable data center opera­ti­ons across Europe.” About Bain Capital

Bain Capi­tal is one of the world’s leading private alter­na­tive multi-asset invest­ment firms, crea­ting lasting value for our inves­tors, teams, busi­nesses and the commu­ni­ties in which we live. Since our foun­ding in 1984, we have lever­a­ged our know­ledge and expe­ri­ence to orga­ni­cally expand into nume­rous asset clas­ses, inclu­ding private equity, credit, public equity, venture capi­tal, real estate and other stra­te­gic focus areas. The firm has offices on four conti­nents, more than 1,750 employees and appro­xi­m­ately $185 billion in assets under manage­ment. About Aquila Group

Aquila Group, head­quar­te­red in Hamburg, Germany, is a private invest­ment firm that mana­ges a diverse port­fo­lio of compa­nies focu­sed on inno­va­tive solu­ti­ons across multi­ple sectors.

Since 2001, Aquila Group has been at the fore­front of iden­ti­fy­ing emer­ging trends and foste­ring inno­va­tion, parti­cu­larly in the areas of rene­wa­ble energy and sustainable infra­struc­ture, while actively inves­t­ing in the deve­lo­p­ment of new busi­nesses. As an inves­tor and deve­lo­per, Aquila Group remains commit­ted to crea­ting long-term value and driving solu­ti­ons that contri­bute to a more sustainable future. Aquila Group’s port­fo­lio includes asset manage­ment, indus­trial rene­wa­ble energy deve­lo­p­ment and inde­pen­dent power produc­tion (IPP) across Europe and Asia Paci­fic, as well as projects in data centers, green logi­stics and Spanish resi­den­tial real estate. With a tran­sac­tion volume of over EUR 25 billion and assets under manage­ment of EUR 15 billion, the company has a solid track record. With around 700 employees in 19 offices world­wide, Aquila Group is commit­ted to avoi­ding 1.5 billion tons of CO2 equi­va­lent over the life­time of its port­fo­lio by 2035. https://www.aquila-group.com