Data centre firm GDS confirms investor talks on potential deals outside China

GDS Holdings

12/03/2024 06:46

SINGAPORE, March 12 (Reuters) - Chinese data centre
developer and operator GDS Holdings  9698.HK  said it had been
in discussions with several private equity investors on
investing in its operations outside the country.
    The Hong Kong-listed company made the comment in a stock
exchange filing late on Monday after Bloomberg News reported
that Hillhouse, Boyu Capital and CDH Investments are in advanced
talks to invest in GDS' data center business outside China.
    The report, citing people familiar with the matter, added
that an agreement on a total investment of $500 million to $600
million may be reached as soon as the coming weeks.
    "However, as at the date of this announcement, no definitive
legal agreements relating to any private equity capital raising
have been entered into and there can be no certainty that any
transaction will proceed or, if it does, what the structure of
such transaction may be," GDS said in the filing.
    GDS added that it had previously said it had been reviewing
options on the capital needs of its international business,
including the possibility of raising capital for its
international business from private equity investors.
    Hillhouse, Boyu and CDH did not immediately respond to
requests seeking comment on Tuesday.
    Infrastructure assets such as data centres have been gaining
investors' interest in Asia. In September, global investment
firm KKR & Co  KKR.N  acquired 20% of Singapore
Telecommunications'  STEL.SI  regional data centre business for
S$1.1 billion ($826.51 million).

($1 = 1.3309 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((Yantoultra.Ngui@thomsonreuters.com;))