Canadian digital-infrastructure investments are attracting diverse sources of capital amid challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions.

The wide-ranging investment group includes family offices, high-net-worth individuals, middle-market funds, and institutional investors such as pension funds. More investors are entering the fray now that data-centre investments and development project are expected to expand in the next two years.

This investor diversity will be demonstrated at the upcoming Connect North American Investment in Digital Infrastructure & AI conference in Montreal. A roundtable discussion will examine the best ways to raise capital for digital-infrastructure projects amid the considerable macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty now prevalent.

Panelists from Canada, the U.S. and Europe will offer their perspectives on the current capital-raising and investment environment, including the availability of new sources of equity and debt, evolving hyperscale-development trends, and the state of M&A activity.

Kal Benedict, vice-president of sales at Toronto-based Shared Fibre, will moderate the session. The panelists will include Ariana Batori, a principal at Washington, D.C.-headquartered Stonepeak; Benjamin Desmarais, a partner with Montreal-based Novacap; Stuart Murray, U.S.-headquartered investment giant Blackrock’s head of North American infrastructure debt; and Christopher Stief, CEO of Germany’s Data Center Partners.

The discussion will offer insights on how firms are positioning their digital-infrastructure portfolios, assess current growth opportunities versus previous years and evaluate the data-centre sector’s resilience in relation to shifting capital markets, interest rates, inflation and policy revisions.

The investors will also discuss their geographic expansion strategies, near-term challenges, and the most compelling opportunities expected over the next six months.

The one-day conference will be held at the Allied REIT Meeting Space in Montreal.

Pictured: A Vantage data centre in Montreal.

Photo: Vantage