KKR & Co. is in talks to buy ST Telemedia Global Data Centres in a deal that could value the Asian digital infrastructure provider at more than US$5 billion ($6.41 billion), according to people familiar with the matter.
The US investment firm and ST Telemedia Pte could reach a deal in the coming weeks, the people said. KKR is already a backer in the closely held data centre company known as STT GDC with a 14.1% stake. At a more than US$5 billion valuation, the deal could be among the largest for KKR this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Discussions are advanced but could still be delayed or even fall apart, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. KKR and STT GDC declined to comment.
Based in Singapore, STT GDC is one of Asia’s largest data center operators with more than 100 data centres across 20 major markets including India, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia. It also has presence beyond Asia in countries such as the UK, Italy and Germany. The company provides services such as colocation, connectivity, and support services.
A consortium of KKR and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. last year invested $1.75 billion for a minority stake in STT GDC after a competitive process.
KKR this year has pulled out the same playbook it deployed during the pandemic by investing through the market turbulence triggered by President Donald Trump’s trade war.
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In April, it won a hotly-contested auction for post-trade services firm OSTTRA for an enterprise value of more than US$3 billion and announced an acquisition of Karo Healthcare for more than EUR2.5 billion ($3.76 billion) including debt. More recently, KKR agreed to buy London-listed Spectris Plc, a maker of precision testing equipment and software, for about GBP4.1 billion ($7.06 billion).
