The debt could have a five- to seven-year term, and executives are due to meet potential investors in Toronto and Montreal next week, sources told Bloomberg. Bird’s stock traded up as much as 2.6 per cent on Friday. (Bloomberg)

Talking point: Bird’s marquee new client is Bell, which recently picked the Mississauga, Ont.-based construction firm to build a 300-megawatt data centre in Saskatchewan on which the telecom giant plans to spend $1.7 billion. The two companies’ agreement also covers future compute facilities. Credit agency Morningstar DBRS on Thursday rated Bird at BBB, a low but stable grade, citing its low debt-to-earnings ratio, geographic concentration and big backlog of orders. The firm reported $783.4 million in construction revenue in the first quarter, up 9.2 per cent year over year. In a securities filing, Bird said it’s built a dedicated team for data-centre projects, and forecasts market opportunities worth over $20 billion.