March 28, 2024 - Bain Capital is reportedly looking for new backers for its Chinese data center operator ChinData.
The US-based investment is looking for partners to buy some of the company’s assets, according to a report from Bloomberg.
It plans to continue charging maintenance and operation fees on the sites, and will use the cash from the sale of the ownership rights to fund expansion plans for ChinData, the report said, quoting two people familiar with the company’s thinking.
A Bain spokesperson declined to come on the report when approached by Bloomberg. ChinData operates more than 17 data centers across China, Malaysia, and Thailand, with its non-Chinese facilities operated by subsidiary Bridge Data Centres. It derives most of its income from China, and TikTok parent company ByteDance is a major customer.
Founded in 2015, the company was purchased by Bain in 2019 from Wangsu Science & Technology Co. and merged with Bridge Data Centres, which was already part of the Bain portfolio. The combined company went public in 2020, with Bain retaining a 42 percent stake, and other companies including SK Holdings buying in.
However, last year Bain took ChinData private again in a $3.16 billion merger deal, which saw the data center operator combined with two wholly-owned Bain subsidiaries, BCPE Chivalry Bidco Limited, and BCPE Chivalry Merger Sub Limited.
ChinData was in demand at the time, with local operators GDS and EQT-backed EdgeConneX said to have been considering offers, while state-back China Merchants 18 had a $3.4 billion bid for the company rebuffed.
Since then, ChinData has been expanding its offering, including the launch of a set of full-stack modular products for hyperscale data center builders, ranging from integrated power systems to prefabricated buildings.
