Investment giant Brookfield Asset Management has acquired a minority stake in real estate firm American Real Estate Partners (AREP). AREP's investments include PowerHouse Data Centers.

AREP, an institutional fund manager and real estate developer, this week announced that affiliates of Brookfield have agreed to acquire a minority interest in AREP for an undisclosed amount. The deal is set to close in Q4 of this year.

Founded in 2003, AREP is the parent of PowerHouse, a data center platform with a pipeline reportedly totaling more than 8GW.

The companies said the investment brings together AREP’s vertically integrated data center development platform with Brookfield’s global scale, investment capabilities, and experience across real estate, energy and infrastructure.

“Over the past several years, we have built AREP into a differentiated real estate investment and data center development platform, and we are excited to welcome Brookfield as a partner,” said Brian Katz, co-founder and president of American Real Estate Partners. “Brookfield brings tremendous global experience and capabilities, and we look forward to partnering in this next and exciting chapter of growth at AREP.”

Founded in 2022, PowerHouse has projects in operation and development across Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

Ben Brown, co-president of Brookfield's Real Estate Group, added: “We are in the early stages of a multi-decade buildout of physical infrastructure required for AI. AREP is a strong, synergistic partner with institutional-quality data center development capabilities and similar goals across the digital and power sectors, all of which aligns with our disciplined approach to integrated data center development.”

Brookfield Asset Management has more than $1 trillion in assets under management and is one of the largest investment firms in the world.

The company has stakes in a number of data center and tower firms – including Csquare, Compass, and 5C in the US, Data4 in Europe, Ascenty in Latin America, Digital Connexion in India, and DCI in Australia – and is a major investor in energy infrastructure supporting the industry. It recently formed Radiant, a new AI cloud provider.

Rothschild & Co served as exclusive financial advisor to AREP in connection with the transaction.