LandBridge Spends $266.8 Million on 25,000 Delaware Basin Acres as PowerBridge's Reeves County Data Center Lease Takes Hold

LandBridge Company spent about $266.8 million in the third quarter buying roughly 25,000 acres across the Delaware Basin, the Houston-based landowner said in results filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 4. The same filing shows PowerBridge has exercised its option on an initial 825 acres at the Alpha Digital Campus in Reeves County, where construction on the first phase began in September.

The acquisitions came through numerous transactions. They include fee surface acreage, mineral-classified surface acreage and undeveloped pore space near the Stateline region, which can be used for produced-water disposal. LandBridge said management is in active discussions with operators about the pore space.

The PowerBridge deal is the data center link. PowerBridge holds options on about 3,400 acres of LandBridge land and in September exercised its option on the first 825. The two companies signed a long-term ground lease and a power royalty agreement that month.

Alpha Phase I is expected to deliver more than 300 megawatts of a planned 2-gigawatt powered data center campus. First power is expected in the fourth quarter of 2027. LandBridge's filing does not name a contractor or disclose a construction cost.

The land business is growing quickly. LandBridge reported third-quarter revenue of $70.9 million, up 39% from a year earlier. Surface use royalties and revenue made up $54.3 million of that, with resource sales and royalties at $12.5 million and oil and gas royalties at $4.1 million.

Net income for the quarter was $34.0 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $63.7 million, a 90% margin, and free cash flow was $49.0 million. The company raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to $220 million to $235 million.

LandBridge funded growth partly with debt. Borrowings stood at $765.0 million, and an Oct. 1 add-on of $125 million to its 6.25% senior notes due 2030 brought that issue to $625 million. The company also completed its conversion to a Texas corporation.

Produced-water volumes on LandBridge land rose in the quarter, helped by the ramp-up of the Speedway Phase I pipeline.

The quarterly report does not identify the counties or sellers behind the 25,000 acres beyond Reeves County, and it does not give an acreage price. LandBridge's affiliate WaterBridge filed its own third-quarter results the same day.

TCH reported on Nov. 7 that construction is under way on PowerBridge's Alpha campus. The LandBridge filing confirms the lease structure behind that project and the timing of first power.