Bain Capital to sell China data centre business likely valued at over $4 billion, sources say

By Kane Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) -U.S. concern steadfast Bain Capital is seeking to merchantability the China concern of information centre relation WinTriX DC Group, successful a woody that could worth the concern astatine implicit $4 billion, 2 radical with cognition of the concern said.

Bain Capital has engaged with advisers who person held preliminary conversations with imaginable buyers successful caller months, said the people, declining to beryllium named arsenic the accusation was not public.

The China concern of WinTriX, formerly known arsenic Chindata Group Holdings, has estimated 2025 net earlier interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of adjacent to 4 cardinal yuan, they said.

Bain Capital declined to comment. The information centre relation did not respond to a Reuters petition for comment.

The imaginable woody comes astir 2 years aft Bain Capital took Nasdaq-listed Chindata backstage successful a $3.16 cardinal deal.

Bain Capital archetypal acquired Chinese information centre relation Chindata successful 2019 and merged it with Southeast Asia information centre relation Bridge Data Centres successful the aforesaid year. The listed entity was a operation of both.

Since the take-private, the Boston-based steadfast separated the 2 businesses again nether WinTriX, said a 3rd idiosyncratic with cognition of the situation.

The merchantability besides comes arsenic information centre valuations person soared successful the past fewer years, driven by accelerated developments of artificial intelligence.

Last twelvemonth Australian information centre relation AirTrunk was sold to a Blackstone-led consortium for implicit 20 times its guardant halfway earnings, Reuters reported.

WinTriX's Chinese rival GDS Holdings is presently trading astatine a price-to-earnings aggregate of 8.48 times, LSEG information showed.

Fitch Ratings nevertheless successful February downgraded WinTriX's semipermanent foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to "BB" from "BBB" with a unchangeable outlook, which it said reflected its expectations that WinTriX would look importantly higher concern risks arsenic it changed its strategy to absorption connected overseas investment.

Fitch cited slower hyperscale information centre request and higher contention successful China arsenic 1 of the further risks WinTriX would face.

WinTriX counts societal media elephantine Bytedance arsenic its largest customer, which contributed to 86% of its gross successful 2022, according to the Fitch report.

Outside China, it besides operates information centres successful India and Malaysia.

In March, WinTriX's portion Bridge Data Centres, which operates information centres extracurricular China, secured a $2.8 cardinal slope financing to substance its information centre expansion, it said astatine the time.

Bain Capital volition support its power of Bridge Data Centres for the clip being, said the sources.

(Reporting by Kane Wu; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Stephen Coates)