KKR and Singtel near $5 billion takeover of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres

KKR and Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) are understood to be in final talks to take over ST Telemedia Global Data Centres in a deal that may top S$5 billion, according to sources cited by Reuters.

Two people who have been briefed say the discussions have been ongoing for weeks, and the pair are now close to an agreement to buy more than 80% of the company. KKR is reportedly spearheading the transaction, although both companies are acting together.

Singtel and KKR’s move signals a shift in AI from novelty to utility

ST Telemedia, which is the current majority owner, is itself tied to Temasek, reflecting the extent to which Singapore’s state capital has been wrapped into this sector. According to Reuters, the two firms already have a foot in the door, and KRR is said to hold about 14% and Singtel around 4%, from an earlier investment the two companies made last year.

This latest move reportedly reflects a strong belief that this could be the right moment for the companies to go all-in on server estates, and also shows how sharply the economics of hard infrastructure have shifted as AI moves from novelty to a near-daily utility.

This is not just about phone companies and social media anymore, but generative AI needs land, power, and racks, and these are the firms that lease them out.

Should the deal cross the line, it would fall among the largest data centre buyouts in the Asian region. That size alone underlines the scale of the sector’s shift. Investors once chased mobile networks or fibre. Now they want the buildings behind the cloud.

Data centre operators have become landlords to the modern internet, and some funds believe this is the most reliable cash flow in the digital world.

No one involved is willing to talk about it in public, KKR, ST Telemedia, and the data centre firm declined to speak and Singtel did not answer questions. The two people who shared details asked for privacy because the talks are not done, and the outline could yet be adjusted before the parties sign anything.

Still, one source believes the goal is to wrap things up before the end of this year.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres began life in 2014, its website paints a picture of a company that has raced into new regions faster than many peers. The company operates over 100 facilities across more than 20 markets, including Singapore, India, Japan, and a branch into Europe through the Virtus brand in the UK, Germany, and Italy.

ST Telemedia also claims that more than 2 gigawatts of IT load is already installed, and this figure would have been unimaginable a decade ago, and reflects how much compute the world consumes.

For KKR, this is another link in a strategy it has built across the Asia Pacific since 2019, and analysts who track the fund say it has about $13 billion in infrastructure assets in the region.

Singapore has become a hub for these server estates because it offers political stability, strong power links, and reliability.

KKR and Singtel have decided to bet that the next decade will need even more megawatts than the last as demand for AI continues to increase. For tech firms in China, they may enjoy some relief as the Chinese government offers up to 50% discounts on energy for data centers that use Chinese-made processors under its new energy policy.

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