Meta to finance $14 billion El Paso data center by selling 80% stake to BlackRock in deal structure

Meta Platforms is lining up financing for a major data center project in El Paso, Texas, using a structured sale-leaseback approach that will transfer most of the asset’s economic interest to BlackRock while keeping the operational footprint under Meta’s control.

The plan, as described in a market report dated July 30, centers on Meta’s 1 GW El Paso data center with an estimated investment value of about $14 billion. Under the arrangement, Meta would sell about 80% of the project to BlackRock and convert existing land and construction-in-progress assets into partnership equity, a mechanism intended to raise cash without fully relinquishing ownership of the development’s value chain.

In practical terms, sale-leaseback deals allow an operator to monetize real estate or infrastructure it owns, then lease the property back so it can continue using the facility. The “variant” described in the report suggests the transaction is more complex than a straightforward sale, because it involves partnership equity and ongoing development assets rather than only completed buildings.

BlackRock, which manages long-term capital across public and private markets, is identified as the financing counterparty for the majority stake. The report frames the move as part of a broader pattern of large-scale data center funding, where infrastructure investors provide capital while technology companies pursue build-out schedules and capacity needs.

Meta did not provide, in the cited post, additional deal economics such as lease rates, lease term length, specific conditions tied to construction milestones, or whether Meta has options to buy the stake back later. It also did not disclose whether the transaction affects who ultimately bears certain operating and development risks during the construction phase.

The reported structure highlights a key question for the data center market: how companies balance rapid capacity expansion with the capital intensity of building power-intensive facilities. A 1 GW project implies substantial electrical infrastructure, permitting work, and long lead-time components, so financing structures that can surface cash while maintaining control over future operations are attractive.

For investors and the companies themselves, these deals can also influence how costs flow through corporate statements. While the report does not quantify financial statement impacts, the use of sale-leaseback and partnership equity structures typically aims to convert capital tied up in real assets into investable liquidity, potentially changing the timing and classification of costs compared with traditional funding methods.