STOCKS | Iren Secures $2.4 Billion Debt Financing for Nvidia Chip Purchases

Blue Owl Capital-managed funds announced on Friday, August 28, that they are arranging $2.4 billion in compute financing for Australian-listed Iren. According to Sina Finance, the money will be used to buy Nvidia air-cooled accelerated computing equipment, including Blackwell Ultra GPUs, for deployment at Iren's Mackenzie campus in British Columbia, Canada. The financing is split into a $1.2 billion senior secured term loan and a $1.2 billion senior secured note, with draws made in stages under the agreed funding window after equipment arrives and is commissioned. Iren said its global data center pipeline under construction and in planning exceeds 5 gigawatts. Iren Chief Financial Officer Anthony Lewis said customer demand for AI computing power is accelerating and that the financing will support continued campus expansion. Iren also disclosed in its August 27 fiscal-year earnings materials that the financing was led by Blue Owl, with Pacific Investment Management Company involved as adviser to some investors. Market reports citing filing information said both the loan and the note carry a 9% interest rate and mature two and a half years after funding. Blue Owl's news release did not list the rate or tenor, and it did not separately mention PIMCO's co-lead role. Canadian local media said the funding accounts for about 90% of the total needed for the Mackenzie campus expansion. Iren said the deal differs from another $3.65 billion investment-grade GPU financing it closed on June 1, which received A/A (low) ratings from Fitch and DBRS and was mainly tied to its Childress campus in Texas. Iren shares fell about 13% to $35.07 in late New York trading on Friday, and the company did not attribute the decline to the debt financing.