Houlihan Lokey Advises Takanock
Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Takanock has received a $500 million equity commitment from ArcLight and DigitalBridge, two leading investors focused on electrification infrastructure and digital infrastructure, respectively. This commitment accelerates Takanock’s initiative solutions in powering data centers, including on-site gas power generation, addressing rising demand from data center operators. Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Takanock.
Founded as a new venture in 2023 to address the power shortage limiting the development of data center sites in core markets, Takanock is a leading provider of innovative digital and power infrastructure solutions. Takanock is tackling the data center industry’s core challenge of developing shovel-ready data center sites with access to power by leveraging its executives’ decades of experience in both energy and digital infrastructure. This expertise bridges the gap between the two sectors, delivering innovative solutions to meet the increasingly critical power challenges faced by today’s data-infrastructure sector.
Takanock focuses on top-tier markets where demand for data centers is greatest and power constraints are most acute. Access to power is the “long pole in the tent” for the development of new data centers, as the grid is unable to supply the power to meet data center demand. Takanock accelerates time to power by providing flexible on-site power solutions capable of serving as prime power until the completion of a substation and a wholesale grid resource thereafter. By bringing its own on-site generation to unlock grid capacity where others struggle, Takanock can accelerate deployment timelines and ensure Continuity of Power℠. Takanock eliminates the need for local utilities to build new offsite generation, reducing its burden and preventing the shifting of costs to existing utility customers—a challenge that has hindered industry growth. Unlike other generation solutions available in the market, Takanock sidesteps pipeline capacity constraints and the need for firm pipeline contracts, all while offering unparalleled resiliency during disruptions.
Kenneth Davies, founder and CEO of Takanock, notes: “To meet the increasingly compute-intensive needs of hyperscalers and large-scale data center operators, it’s essential to combine expertise from both the energy and digital sectors. What makes this partnership so significant is our ability to deliver integrated solutions, accelerating time to power for new data center deployment while strengthening grid reserve margins and flexibility. DigitalBridge and ArcLight bring tangible operational capabilities and industry connectivity that will help us operationalize digital power solutions in premier Tier 1 data center markets where existing constraints are most acute.”
Takanock’s focus on sustainability is central to its business model. By leveraging innovative co-located generation, Takanock enhances grid stability, accelerates data center deployment, and supports the integration of renewable energy into the grid. The company’s turnkey solutions are designed to reduce reliance on traditional grid infrastructure while simultaneously improving energy efficiency and minimizing environmental impact. Takanock’s highly dispatchable power solution enhances the ability of the grid to support greater integration of renewable energy sources and provides data center customers flexibility to procure their own energy resources. The company also uses best-available emission control technologies and closed-loop cooling systems, which minimize environmental impact and ensure minimal demand on local water resources.
ArcLight and DigitalBridge’s capital commitments will fund the acquisition and development of sites and the development of on-site power solutions for Takanock’s pipeline of projects.
ArcLight is a leading infrastructure investor that has been investing in critical electrification infrastructure since its founding in 2001. ArcLight has owned, controlled, or operated more than ~65 GW of assets and 47,000 miles of electric and gas transmission and storage infrastructure, representing $80 billion of enterprise value. ArcLight has a long and proven track record of value-added investing across its core investment sectors, including power, hydro, solar, wind, battery storage, electric transmission, and natural gas transmission and storage infrastructure to support the growing need for power, reliability, security, and sustainability. ArcLight’s team employs an operationally intensive investment approach that benefits from its dedicated in-house strategic, technical, operational, and commercial specialists, as well as the firm’s ~2,000-person asset management partner.
DigitalBridge (NYSE:DBRG) is a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure. With a heritage of more than 25 years investing in and operating businesses across the digital ecosystem, including cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells, and edge infrastructure, the DigitalBridge team manages approximately $100 billion of infrastructure assets on behalf of its limited partners and shareholders.
Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Takanock, assisting the company in arranging, structuring, and negotiating the equity financing.
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