Macquarie Group's US$40 billion data centre sale offsets a soft trading year

A softer commodities trading result, a CFO departure and CEO succession questions weighed on Macquarie Group through mid-2025, but a record US$40 billion sale of Aligned Data Centers reminded fund managers of its structural edge in digital infrastructure investing.

30 Jun 2026 · 6 min read

Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) spent mid-2025 working through a genuinely soft patch in its trading and asset management divisions, compounded by leadership uncertainty, before a landmark asset sale in its infrastructure funds business reminded fund managers why they had stuck with the stock. Clime Investment Management described the initial weakness in July 2025, trimming its position as part of periodic rebalancing after MQG reported a softer-than-expected operating update driven by lower trading activity in its Commodities and Global Markets division, even as Banking and Macquarie Capital performed better.

Leadership uncertainty compounds a soft quarter

The trading softness coincided with unwelcome management news. Endeavor Asset Management noted the stock declined 5.0% in July 2025 following the soft start to the financial year, with the resignation of CFO Alex Harvey, due to finish in mid-2026, and CEO succession planning both weighing on sentiment, alongside a risk the board would receive its first strike on the remuneration report at the AGM. The fund reduced the size of its position but said it continued to prefer Macquarie as its long-term banking sector exposure. Auscap Asset Management characterised the same result as weaker than expected across the board, with the previously strong commodities trading division normalising more sharply than anticipated, lower asset management performance fees, and higher costs in Banking & Financial Services, with the company itself acknowledging FY25 earnings could come in below FY24.

Macquarie remains a high-quality, diversified financial services group, but this was a softer result and the company acknowledged that FY25 earnings may also be lower than FY24.

Auscap Asset Management, Webinar, September 2025

A record data centre sale reframes the narrative

The turning point arrived in October 2025. Hyperion Asset Management reported Macquarie Asset Management, together with co-investment partners, sold Aligned Data Centers for an enterprise value of US$40 billion, the largest data centre transaction globally to date, expected to complete in the first half of 2026. The fund noted this followed MAM's US$16 billion sale of its stake in AirTrunk the prior year, and that under MAM's ownership, Aligned had scaled from two facilities with 85MW of capacity to 50 data centres with more than 5GW, with the transaction expected to generate material performance fees for Macquarie over time as further evidence of its ability to consistently identify structural growth areas of the economy.

MQG continues to maintain significant exposure to digital infrastructure assets, with the Aligned and AirTrunk transactions providing ongoing evidence of MQG's ability to consistently identify and invest in structural growth areas of the economy.

Hyperion Asset Management, Monthly Report, October 2025

A valuation case built on patience

Airlie Funds Management made the clearest long-term case for holding through the near-term turbulence, acknowledging the stock is in a lull with some regulatory pressure, but arguing both will pass over time given the breadth of Macquarie's global business base. The fund pointed to the stock trading at only a modest premium to Westpac, on 19 times earnings versus 17 times, arguing that over a three-to-five-year horizon Macquarie's structural growth advantages would prove the more attractive proposition. Endeavor Asset Management separately flagged a supportive domestic tailwind in September 2025, noting the Australian government's brought-forward First Home Buyer scheme, which supports loans up to 95% loan-to-value ratio with a government guarantee above 80%, should benefit Macquarie's mortgage book by lowering risk-weighted assets and freeing regulatory capital.

What managers are watching next

With the CFO transition set to complete in mid-2026 and CEO succession planning still an open question, the catalysts fund managers are tracking most closely are the completion of the Aligned Data Centers sale and its eventual performance fee contribution, whether commodities and asset management income can stabilise after their sharper-than-expected normalisation, and how the incoming leadership team frames Macquarie's next phase of growth once the current uncertainty resolves.