Bankers Ponder New Ways to Raise Data Center Money, Despite Risks

Talk about symbolic. This week’s annual conference for bankers and investors who play in the arcane world of asset securitization—selling debt backed by mortgages and other cash streams—was disrupted when an exhibit hall at the convention in Las Vegas caught fire on Monday night. I’m not kidding. You could say the blaze was a physical manifestation of the financial risks associated with the topic on attendees’ minds: data centers.

I’m at the convention—which is continuing despite the fire, although many people had to relocate to different conference halls. And I’ve met quite a few people who’ve been attending versions of this conference for decades, since before the 2008 financial crisis, when the event was featured in Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short.” For young folks who may not recall that book—later turned into a film—it was about the bubble in mortgage-backed securities that led to the 2008 financial crisis. None of the veterans who remember those days are eager for a repeat, so they’re asking extra questions about data center deals, making sure they don’t miss any risks.