Top Thai banks weighs stake sale in data centre operator: sources

THAILAND’S biggest banks are considering a stake sale in data centre company Supernap Thailand, according to people familiar with the matter, riding on the increasing investor appetite for the industry.

Shareholders of Supernap Thailand, including Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank, are working with a financial adviser to help find a minority investor in the business, the people said. Supernap Thailand, which was a joint venture between some of the country’s biggest firms and US data centre giant Switch, could be valued at about US$800 million in a transaction, the people said.

The sale has drawn preliminary interest from other industry players and investment funds, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Switch isn’t planning to exit, one of the people said.

Considerations are preliminary and no final decision has been made, the people said. Representatives for Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Supernap Thailand and Switch didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Supernap Thailand was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between some of the biggest companies in Thailand and Las Vegas-based Switch with a US$300 million investment in the country’s eastern province Chonburi. Supernap Thailand’s tier-4 data centers, which are located 110 metres above sea level are the first hyperscale data centres in Thailand, according to its official presentation on Youtube. 

Data centre companies have been attracting strong takeover interest, in part due to the perception they have stable returns and expectations of ongoing growth as people increasingly rely on technology. In Thailand, True Internet Data Center, a unit of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group, is seeking to raise about US$150 million from a sale of a minority stake, Bloomberg News has reported. BLOOMBERG