RBC downgrades DigitalBridge after announced acquisition by Softbank

Investing.com -- RBC Capital Markets downgraded Digitalbridge Group Inc stock after SoftBank Group announced an agreement to acquire the company in an all-cash transaction valued at $16 per share.

RBC said the downgrade to Sector Perform is based on its expectation that the transaction will be approved and completed as announced.

SoftBank said earlier it would purchase DigitalBridge for $16 per share, implying a total enterprise value of about $4 billion. The offer represents a roughly 50% premium to the stock’s unaffected 52-week average price as of December 4, when media reports about a potential transaction first emerged.

The deal has been unanimously recommended by a special committee of independent directors and is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Following the close, DigitalBridge will continue operating as a separately managed platform led by Chief Executive Marc Ganzi.

“The acquisition further’s SoftBank’s mission to capitalize on the AI-driven growth in digital infrastructure,” RBC analyst Jonathan Atkin said in a Monday note.

Alongside the downgrade, Atkin cut its price target from $23 to $16, with the revised target based on the disclosed offer price.

After speaking with investors about the deal, Atkin said the feedback highlights SoftBank’s strategic rationale for the acquisition, with the Japanese group seen as viewing DigitalBridge as an execution platform in the U.S. digital infrastructure market.

DigitalBridge provides “immediate access to multiple U.S. datacenter platforms (for AI expansion), and their respective land and power banks as well as development pipelines, with strong operating teams already in place,” he noted.

In return, SoftBank is expected to provide a substantial capital backstop that would be difficult for DigitalBridge to replicate independently, while easing public-market and fundraising pressures.

The analyst also flagged that although there is no immediate financial benefit tied to OpenAI, SoftBank would gain the ability to channel capacity to meet potential OpenAI needs, offering capacity advantages over time.

Given that key DigitalBridge principals are expected to remain with the company, the transaction may be less likely to trigger change-of-control provisions, though this remains an area of investor focus, Atkin added.

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