Bain Capital bids to acquire Koch’s data center company in deal exceeding $15 billion

Bain Capital is in talks to acquire Edged, a data center developer owned by Koch Inc., in a deal that could top $15 billion.

Edged isn’t your standard data center operator. The company was co-founded in 2024 by Koch, through its Koch Real Estate Investments subsidiary, and entrepreneur Jakob Carnemark. Its pitch centers on sustainability, specifically waterless cooling technology and a power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of around 1.15.

To put that PUE number in context: the closer to 1.0, the more efficient a data center is at converting electricity into actual compute work rather than waste heat. A 1.15 rating puts Edged firmly among the most efficient operators in the industry, where the average hovers considerably higher.

The company currently operates facilities across five US metro areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, and Phoenix. Combined, those sites deliver more than 388 megawatts of operational capacity, with an Atlanta campus alone accounting for 169 MW. Additional sites are in active development.

Koch Real Estate Investments has brought in Goldman Sachs to help evaluate incoming bids. The talks first surfaced in late July 2026 when reports indicated Koch was soliciting offers, with Bain’s specific interest becoming public by late September 2026.

Bain Capital had previously steered clear of US data center plays during the period when demand was surging, while divesting from certain international data center holdings.

Edged’s focus on waterless cooling gives it an advantage in regions where water scarcity is becoming a real constraint on data center expansion. Traditional cooling systems can consume millions of gallons of water annually per facility. In markets like Phoenix and Dallas, that’s not just an environmental concern, it’s a permitting risk.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.