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Peer Fund / Dealmaker·Data Centers

Mike Forman

Senior Managing Director, Head of Americas Acquisitions and Global Head of Digital Infrastructure at Blackstone Real Estate

New York, NY

MF
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Why they matter

Forman runs Blackstone's digital infrastructure investing globally and just took on all Americas acquisitions — he sees nearly every large data center deal in the market first.

Background

Mike Forman is a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, where he serves as Head of Americas Acquisitions and Global Head of Digital Infrastructure for Blackstone Real Estate, as well as Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust (NYSE: BXDC). He joined Blackstone in 2012 and has led or co-led many of the firm's largest transactions, spanning data centers, industrial, and residential real estate. He holds a dual BA in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences and Economics from Northwestern University and completed the Kellogg Financial Economics program.

Notable deals

  • 2021
    Led the pitch (with Greg Blank and Tyler Henritze) for Blackstone's $10 billion all-cash acquisition of QTS Data Centers, the largest data center transaction at the time
  • 2026
    Named Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust (BXDC) as it completed a $1.75B IPO on the NYSE
  • 2026
    Promoted to Head of Americas Acquisitions for Blackstone Real Estate while retaining his Global Head of Digital Infrastructure title
  • 2026
    Announced Blackstone's $3.5B sale of its interest in three Northern Virginia data centers to Digital Realty, speaking on behalf of the firm in the joint statement

Call-prep brief

Background

  • SMD at Blackstone since 2012; now Global Head of Digital Infrastructure *and* newly named Head of Americas Acquisitions for Real Estate (Jan 2026 promotion)
  • CIO of Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust (BXDC), a listed vehicle that raised $1.75B in its 2026 IPO
  • Track record includes the $10B QTS Data Centers take-private (2021), the AirTrunk deal, Digital Realty, Rowan, Related Digital, Lumina CloudInfra, COPT Defense Properties, and the original build/IPO of Invitation Homes

Current focus

  • Deploying capital into hyperscale and colocation data centers to meet AI-driven demand; recently sold Blackstone's stake in three Northern Virginia data centers to Digital Realty for $3.5B (June 2026), suggesting active portfolio recycling alongside new builds
  • Balancing digital infrastructure with a broader acquisitions mandate across Real Estate sectors following his promotion

What he cares about

  • Power availability and land banking as the binding constraint on data center growth
  • Creditworthy, long-term hyperscaler leases as the underwriting anchor
  • Scaling BXDC as a permanent-capital vehicle for retail/wealth channel access to digital infrastructure

Sensitivities

  • New, broader mandate (Americas Acquisitions) means less day-to-day bandwidth on digital infra specifically — route asks efficiently
  • BXDC is a public-facing, SEC-registered vehicle; avoid anything that reads as solicitation of non-public deal information

Questions to ask

  1. How is Blackstone thinking about power/land scarcity reshaping where new colocation capacity gets built over the next 3-5 years?
  2. What's the strategic logic behind recycling stabilized assets (e.g., the NoVA/Digital Realty sale) while still expanding via BXDC?
  3. With the expanded Americas Acquisitions role, how is capital being allocated between digital infrastructure and other RE sectors right now?

Outreach draft

Subject
Data center capacity — quick investor call?
Hi Mike, Congratulations on the expanded role leading Americas Acquisitions alongside Digital Infrastructure — quite a mandate given how active Blackstone has been in data centers lately, from QTS through the recent Digital Realty transaction. We're doing diligence on a data center colocation platform and would value 20 minutes of your perspective on where power availability and hyperscaler demand are heading over the next few years, and how you're thinking about build vs. buy vs. recycle in the current market. Would you have time in the next couple of weeks? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

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