NEW YORK, April 26, 2026, 14:05 (EDT)
- Bank of America took on structuring agent and financial advisor roles for a $16 billion Michigan data center deal tied to Oracle.
- BofA joins Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo in the scramble to bankroll AI infrastructure, chasing higher fees even as risks remain significant.
- Local pushback persists, with concerns still swirling around electricity consumption, lack of transparency, and environmental fallout.
Bank of America Corporation is leading the $16 billion financing package for a Michigan data center campus—an Oracle-backed project from Related Digital—handing the U.S. bank a major role as AI infrastructure spending accelerates. Related Digital, along with Blackstone, confirmed the deal for the Saline Township development. Bank of America steps in as both structuring agent and financial advisor.
The timing isn’t just about tech anymore—AI spending has crossed over into Wall Street territory. Banks, private capital, and bond investors are figuring out how much risk they want in massive computing hubs—those data centers stacked with servers crunching digital tasks. Reuters says the Michigan campus is one piece of a larger effort from OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital to ramp up AI infrastructure across the U.S.
Bank of America offloaded $14 billion in bonds connected to the project, according to Bloomberg News via Reuters. Blackstone put in about $2 billion in equity. PIMCO took down roughly $10 billion of the bonds priced on Friday, Reuters also noted. All of the debt is fixed-rate, so interest payments stay locked in rather than tracking short-term moves.
BofA lands close to the top of a busy advisory pack with this deal. While Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo also advised Related Digital, BofA took charge on structuring the financing—a job that connects the developer, a private-equity backer, a cloud tenant, and major bond investors.
Jim DeMare, co-president at Bank of America, pointed to “strong investor demand” for digital infrastructure as a key driver behind capital formation for complex deals. He also credited the bank’s sponsor and investor relationships with enabling it to put together the transactions. Over at Related Companies, chief executive Jeff T. Blau—who also chairs Related Digital—said “major construction is well underway” in Saline Township. Bank of America
The mandate follows a solid start to the year for Bank of America’s markets and investment-banking businesses. For the quarter ending March 31, the bank posted revenue of $30.3 billion, net of interest expense, and net income of $8.6 billion, with diluted earnings coming in at $1.11 per share.
Bank of America topped first-quarter profit forecasts, Reuters said earlier this month, with equities trading setting a new high and investment banking fees climbing 21% to $1.8 billion. CEO Brian Moynihan described client activity as healthy, though he added the bank was staying “watchful” on potential risks. CFO Alastair Borthwick noted BofA’s confidence in its deal pipeline. Reuters
Bank of America shares ended Friday at $52.05, off by 42 cents, putting the bank’s market cap near $397 billion. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo were also down in the session, market data show.
The project faces plenty of risk. Critics cited by Michigan Public have flagged issues like environmental fallout, rising energy needs, and a lack of transparency. DTE Energy’s greenlight to provide power still isn’t final—Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is appealing the decision. If built, the facility would pull over a gigawatt of electricity, or roughly a quarter of DTE’s current peak.
Environmental permitting remains a sticking point. According to Planet Detroit, permits issued by the state so far have signed off on destroying about 9 acres of wetlands and installing 15 diesel backup generators. Related Digital, for its part, claims it’s sticking with a closed-loop cooling setup and plans to keep open space, farmland, and wetlands intact.
Bank of America is capitalizing on the AI buildout, pocketing advisory fees, distributing bonds, and strengthening relationships with sponsors and tech clients. Still, there’s a tougher hurdle: can these big projects continue to get done if power limits, pushback from local communities, or worries about AI-driven debt start piling up?
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