By Ayushman Ojha and Yantoultra Ngui
(Reuters) – A consortium of U.S. investment firm KKR and Singapore Telecommunications will invest S$1.75 billion ($1.3 billion) in ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, one of Asia’s biggest data centre providers, the parties said on Tuesday.
Reuters reported in late May that the KKR-SingTel consortium had emerged as the frontrunner to buy a minority stake worth some $1 billion in Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC).
The deal comes amid growing interest and demand for data centres across the Asia Pacific as countries and companies respond to the boom in artificial intelligence.
The companies said ST Telemedia would remain the majority shareholder in STT GDC but did not disclose the size of the KKR-Singtel stake.
“With the industry experiencing unprecedented cloud and AI-led growth, this strategic partnership with KKR and Singtel will be a significant catalyst for STT GDC’s next chapter of growth as a leader in the digital infrastructure industry,” Bruno Lopez, STT GDC’s president and group CEO, said in a statement.
The deal comprises the initial S$1.75 billion investment by the consortium via redeemable preference shares, with detachable warrants, according to the three parties’ joint statement.
Upon exercise of the warrants in full, the consortium will invest an additional S$1.24 billion, the statement said.
($1 = 1.3538 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Ayushman Ojha in Bengaluru and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Susan Fenton)
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