The race to acquire APAC data center operator AirTrunk has accelerated, with bidders reportedly submitting offers for the company.
AFR reports Macquarie Capital and Goldman Sachs collected first-round bids over the weekend for the company’s owners, Macquarie Asset Management and Canada’s PSP Investments.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP), Blackstone, and an IFM Investors and DigitalBridge partnership have tabled non-binding indicative offers for AirTrunk AFR reported, adding that GIP has also made a non-binding indicative offer.
Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and MUFG are said to be underwriting a $7 billion ready-to-use debt package for bidder.
APAC-focused operator AirTrunk was founded in 2016 with plans to develop hyperscale data centers in Australia. The company opened its first facility in Sydney in 2017. Since then, the company has expanded across the region, operating and developing campuses in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Macquarie and PSP currently hold a combined 88 percent stake in the company. News that AirTrunk was seeking bidders surfaced at the start of the year, after it apparently dropped plans for a potential IPO. The company is thought to be valued at around AU$15
Brookfield has also been previously linked with interest in the operator. DigitalBridge is a major investor in data center companies, and has an APAC presence through Vantage (in which PSP is also an investor), as well as Malaysia AIMS.
Blackstone launched Asia-focused data center firm Lumina CloudInfra in 2022. The company also owns QTS, which doesn't have a footprint in asia.
CPP has previously invested in a number of data center funds and joint ventures, including several in Asia.
BlackRock-owned GIP owns CyrusOne alongside KKR. Not historically present in Asia, CyrusOne is planning a major expansion into Japan. Blackstone and DigitalBridge were both said to be interested in acquiring Global Switch and a stake in Airtel’s Extra data center business
