Founder of https://xitter.cf/t.co/3N7L9wzTQH - the financial communications firm.
Dallas, TX
Joined October 2021
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Niko Ludwig retweeted
Today I sit down with Ross Perot Jr., Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group. Ross founded Hillwood in 1988 and built Alliance Texas, his masterpiece, a 1 of 1 27,000-acre development.
We discuss:
โข Why Trammell Crow told him to just build warehouses
โข How Hillwood developed Alliance Texas
โข How a rare earth company got its air permit in three weeks
โข How President Bush helped close Scotiabank's move to Texas
โข What the 1992 campaign looked like from inside the family
โข The Iran War and why cheap oil prices are on the way
โข Why every community should want a data center
โข How to keep China from taking Taiwan
โข Why he expects markets to boom after the midterms
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:42) Why Texas Is Winning the Data Center Boom
(06:20) The Facts Behind the Data Center Backlash
(11:49) Why California, Illinois, and New York Are Losing to Texas
(18:12) How Fort Worth Landed Elon Musk, MP Materials, and Taylor Sheridan
(23:39) Building Alliance for Flying Taxis and Drone Delivery
(27:47) Fighter Pilot Heroes and the First Helicopter Flight Around the World
(34:29) Why EDS Left Dallas and Hillwood Became a Developer
(38:31) Why the Rail Yard Matters More Than the Runway
(44:51) Tariffs and How to Deal with China
(50:35) Deterring a War over Taiwan by 2027
(55:32) The Iran War and the Coming Oil Glut
(59:10) The Case for a Post-Midterm Market Boom
(1:04:34) Smart AI Regulation and the Quantum Encryption Threat
(1:09:24) Buying Land After the S&L Crisis and Trammell Crow's Advice
(1:12:31) Why Circle T Ranch Has Been Replanned 30 Times
(1:17:43) How George W. Bush Closed the Scotiabank Deal
(1:19:11) Inside the 1992 Perot Presidential Campaign
(1:24:34) How Hillwood Runs as a Company of Entrepreneurs
(1:32:04) Why Finding Talent Is the Hardest Part of the Business
Pickens made his fortune in Texas
Want to know whatโs bringing investors there today?
Watch this 15-minute breakdown:
youtube.com/watch?v=jsFfRXILโฆ
"I can't remember a year when I didn't make more money on outside investments than on my salary."
- T. Boone Pickens
"Learn to analyze well. Assess the risks and the prospective rewards, and keep it simple."
- T. Boone Pickens
"Keep focused. When you are hunting elephants, don't get distracted chasing rabbits."
- T. Boone Pickens
T. Boone Pickens once said:
"My IQ is the gas price. At $3 I'm a genius. At $1.50 I'm a moron."
Here are 5 lessons from the Texas oil billionaire:
Working in capital formation long enough will make you realize how many people are successful in fundraising, purely because they know how to build and keep relationships rather than the quality of their investment thesis
Every mega-fund has a core team of leadership who are simply there because they know the right people and can bring in the capital
Some of them canโt underwrite a deal, havenโt touched excel in a decade, and lack proper judgement on the viability of an investment
But at the same time, the firm continues to promote them because theyโre rainmakers. They have deep relationships, know the right people, and source funds nobody else on their team could
As automation dilutes the edge in many investment strategies, these traits only become more important. He who has the distribution, polish, and relationships will win
Close excel and go shake hands - your career will thank you
I'm excited to share our new Financial Storytelling documentary, out today:
โWhy Is Everybody Investing in AI Data Centersโ
13 minutes on whoโs paying for the AI boom and who carries the risk.
(๐ฌ๐ญ:๐ฏ๐ฏ) ๐ง๐๐ $๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐๐
> BlackRockโs consortium agrees to buy Aligned Data Centers
> Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Abu Dhabiโs MGX are in the partnership
> Microsoft needs the capacity, BlackRockโs investors want the rent
(๐ฌ๐ฏ:๐ฎ๐ฒ) ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐ง๐๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ
> Brookfield and Ontario Teachersโ pay $5.5B for Compass
> a pension fund for schoolteachers owns part of a data center in Texas
> 15-year leases help fund retirement payments for years to come
(๐ฌ๐ฐ:๐ฐ๐ฐ) ๐ช๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐๐ฌโ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐
> tenant pays rent, taxes, insurance, and operating costs
> tenant also owns the chips
> chips age out? tenant replaces them, rent keeps coming
(๐ฌ๐ฑ:๐ฑ๐ฒ) ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ง
> $182B in new sector debt, up from $92B a year earlier
> some gets packaged into bonds and sold to more investors
> pension fund owns equity, bondholder owns debt, both wait for the same rent payment
(๐ฌ๐ฒ:๐ฎ๐ณ) ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐
> Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta plan roughly $700B in total capital spending in 2026
> customers have committed to over $2T in future cloud services
> roughly three-quarters of data center capacity under construction is already leased
(๐ฌ๐ด:๐ฏ๐ฎ) ๐ง๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ
> chips competitive for about 5 years
> leases run for 15, some debt for 30
> tenant pays to replace the hardware, but still needs to want the building in year 12
(๐ญ๐ฌ:๐ญ๐ต) ๐ช๐๐ข ๐๐จ๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐ง๐๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ก๐ง
> Fluidstack signs multibillion-dollar leases
> Google backs billions of its obligations in exchange for equity
> the guarantees cover a defined portion, not the entire lease
Can these tenants cover the rent without another funding round?
For your next deal, get a clearer view of todayโs market.
Read Collateral's flagship CRE market report:
collateral.com/insights/statโฆ
