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FT reports that Ardian has bought Irish utility Energia for $2.9 billion in a bet on AI boom.

The Financial Times reported that Ardian, a French investment company, is acquiring Energia Group, one of Ireland's biggest energy utilities. This deal values the company at over 2.5 billion euros (2.93 billion dollars). Ardian believes it has found a power provider who can serve the booming artificial intelligence industry.

The FT reported that Ardian had agreed to purchase Energia Group, an infrastructure investment company, from I Squared Capital. It cited people who were familiar with the situation. I Squared Capital acquired the company for 1 billion euro in 2016.

Ardian, Energia, and I-Squared didn't immediately respond to requests for comments outside of regular business hours. They couldn't immediately verify the FT Report.

The deal reflects the growing interest of investors in data centers to support the rapidly expanding market for AI and their adoption around the world.

Global Infrastructure Partners, a BlackRock company, is close to completing a deal that would value Aligned Data Centers at $40 billion. Two people who are familiar with the situation told us last week.

Juan Angoitia, Ardian's cohead of infrastructure, said that Energia was the first deal Ardian had made in Ireland. He added that Energia has "ambitious plans for growth, driven by capital projects secured and increased energy demand."

William Briggs, Ardian's managing directors said in an article that "Energia was a pioneering model of how to unlock the growth potential of data centres by using a novel co-development approach with renewables".

According to its website, Energia has onshore wind farms that have a 358 mega watt capacity, provides gas and electricity for over 898,000 customers, and employs 1117 people.

(source: Reuters)