DigitalBridge Group (DBRG) Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2024 summary

Investment strategy and evolution

• Transitioned from a REIT to an asset-light asset manager to accelerate growth and better serve customers, reducing debt from $17 billion to $300 million and focusing on holistic digital infrastructure solutions.

• Offers diversified capital sleeves, including flagship funds, InfraBridge, and credit products, providing flexibility and alignment with both public and private investors.

• Alignment of interests is emphasized, with senior leaders investing personal capital alongside clients, and public shareholders benefiting from carried interest as funds mature.

• Manages $86 billion in assets across 46 companies, with $34 billion of equity, and expects significant carried interest payouts over the next 3–11 years.

AI and infrastructure trends

• AI is seen as a long-term trend, with current CapEx in hyperscale infrastructure rising from $186 billion in 2023 to over $250 billion by 2026, but monetization is expected around 2028–2029.

• AI infrastructure investment benefits not just data centers but also fiber, mobility, and towers, with enterprise fiber seeing a resurgence and generative AI expected to drive a 3x increase in mobile data usage.

• The firm focuses on building holistic AI infrastructure, leveraging its broad asset base and customer relationships to deliver integrated solutions.

Capital deployment and asset management

• Maintains a disciplined approach to capital allocation, balancing 50% greenfield and 50% brownfield investments, with over 100 data centers in development and $29 billion of CapEx committed to long-term contracts.

• Prefers building assets with long-term leases and higher yields over chasing low cap rate acquisitions, and continues to pursue selective M&A and recapitalizations.

• Monetizes assets when significant premiums to NAV are available, having returned over $8 billion to LPs through eight exits in 24 months, and is open to bringing assets like Switch back to public markets.