By Isla Binnie NEW YORK, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Private markets firm TPG has agreed to buy a majority stake in Sabre Industries from Blackstone, the companies said on Friday, in a deal two people familiar with the matter said valued the power infrastructure company at around $3.5 billion. Blackstone will maintain a significant minority […]
Business
TPG buys majority stake in $3.5 billion power infrastructure firm Sabre Industries
Audio By Carbonatix
By Isla Binnie
NEW YORK, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Private markets firm TPG has agreed to buy a majority stake in Sabre Industries from Blackstone, the companies said on Friday, in a deal two people familiar with the matter said valued the power infrastructure company at around $3.5 billion.
Blackstone will maintain a significant minority stake in Texas-based Sabre, which makes components for electricity and communications infrastructure. It has around 2,800 employees and its biggest business is in the utility sector, the companies said in a statement.
Blackstone bought Sabre in 2021, and TPG’s purchase price represents a four-times increase on its initial investment, a person familiar with the matter said.
The buildout of data centers for artificial intelligence and cloud computing has attracted large amounts of private capital in recent years and is expected to require much more.
Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray said this week that investing in the “picks and shovels” is the safest way to play the AI megatrend, referring to data centers and systems they rely on.
(Reporting by Isla BinnieEditing by Rod Nickel)