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Tuesday, 11 August 2026

Compiled with AI from public news sources. Folio is editorial commentary for commercial-awareness practice, not legal advice. Verify any detail against the linked sources before relying on it professionally.

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Top Story/M&A

Nvidia strikes $500 billion AI infrastructure financing coalition with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR

Nvidia announced on Monday that it has assembled a $500 billion capital coalition with six of Wall Street's largest investors and lenders: Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR. The initiative frames AI hardware and infrastructure, commonly called 'compute', as a new investable asset class for the first time, with financing directed at Nvidia's own projects and those of its partners. The capital is expected to fund construction of new data centres, manufacturing facilities for graphics processing units (GPUs, the chips that power AI systems), and broader AI supply-chain infrastructure. Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive, described the arrangement as creating a new category of 'AI factories', positioning the company's role beyond chip manufacturing into infrastructure origination. Apollo president Jim Zelter characterised modern compute as 'a scarce, mission-critical asset class'. KKR co-chief executives Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall emphasised that 'delivery, not ambition, is the hard part' as the firms scale digital infrastructure. The announcement follows related moves in the sector: BlackRock separately agreed last month to take a majority ownership stake in a data centre in Texas developed with Meta, and Anthropic recently entered a financing arrangement with Macquarie Asset Management and GIC for AI infrastructure. Technology and AI companies have collectively spent over $1 trillion on AI projects in the past three years, driving Nvidia's market value up approximately five-fold over that period. The deal signals that institutional capital is formalising AI infrastructure as a distinct asset class alongside energy and transport, with implications for how large infrastructure funds and alternative lenders structure and price such deals going forward.

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Paul Hastings

“Paul Hastings is building creditor-side restructuring firepower in London.”

International

Apertura Energy Agrees £25 Million Acquisition of Brazilian Oilfield Services Company Conterp Group

UK-listed Apertura Energy PLC has agreed to acquire Conterp Group PLC, a Brazilian oilfield services company, for £25 million ($34 million), announced on 11 August 2026. The dea…

“Venezuelan exposure makes sanctions due diligence the critical path on this deal.”

Bigger Picture

Sector Watch

AI Infrastructure Institutionalisation

Nvidia's $500 billion coalition with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR marks the moment AI compute formally entered the institutional infrastructure asset class, alongside energy and transport. BlackRock's separate data centre joint venture with Meta and Anthropic's deal with Macquarie Asset Management and GIC confirm this is a market-wide shift rather than a single transaction. London-based City firms with strong project finance, co-investment structuring, and technology asset security practices are positioned to capture the cross-border documentation work as the pipeline of AI infrastructure financing scales through 2026 and 2027. The parallel restructuring of knowledge lawyer roles at firms like Baker McKenzie signals that AI is simultaneously creating the largest financing opportunity in a generation and reshaping the internal economics of the advisers who will work on it.

One to Follow

The FCA's Mortgage Rule Review consultation (Consultation Paper CP26/18, published June 2026) closed on 28 July 2026, with a policy statement expected in the second half of the year, as NatWest and Equifax UK begin piloting open banking income verification to replace payslip requirements.

If the FCA's policy statement adopts the proposed rule changes, it will materially alter the regulatory framework governing mortgage affordability assessments, generating significant work for financial services regulatory practices advising lenders on compliant implementation and for technology counsel reviewing open banking data-sharing agreements with Account Information Service Providers.

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