 "US army seeks ‘meaty’ deals from Wall Street buyout giants to fund $150 bn infra revamp: Report")
The US army has sought investments from private equity firms like Apollo, Carlyle, KKR and Cerberus to fund the service’s $150bn infrastructure overhaul.
Last week, US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a meeting with over 15 of Wall Street’s top buyout firms to discuss the deal. Talking to the Financial Times, Driscoll said that he gathered investors and told them, “‘Hey, here are all the assets we have in our arsenals and our depots that we are underutilising . . . What are those types of deals where we can work with you and invite you in?’”
He further said that the groups were asked to pitch “clever financing models or unique financing models” to help meet the army’s infrastructure needs. “We actually just want meaty projects,” Driscoll said.
What would the overhaul be like?
The proposals represent the Trump administration’s newest attempt to collaborate with the $13 trillion private capital sector, marking an unprecedented move to involve some of Wall Street’s largest investors directly in advancing US national security goals.
Driscoll said that the projects would include data centres and rare earth processing facilities. He added that the federal government might also be open to the possibility of swapping lands for computer processing power or output from rare earth processing.
According to one attendee who spoke to FT, the forum discussed proposals for private investment firms to finance and construct data centres on military bases through government lease agreements, an approach aimed at accelerating development and reducing capital expenses.
“The discussion ran the gamut, from finding financing to refurbish some real estate, or even raise financing against the real estate. There were also discussions on different financing tools for the army’s supply chain and overall capex,” another attendee said.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts‘Silicon Valley approach for the army’
Driscoll, a former investment banker, is pursuing the Army Transformation Initiative that welcomes new technology into the Army.
“I can say unequivocally that the Silicon Valley approach is absolutely ideal for the army,” he said last week.
Driscoll said the Army anticipated receiving investment proposals and would conduct due diligence in the coming weeks before reconvening with investors in New York. His goal is to have several agreements finalized by year’s end.
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