True Internet Data Center Co., a unit of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group, is looking to sell a minority stake, which is expected to fetch around $150 million, according to a Bloomberg report.
Quoting people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg said that the stake in the Bangkok-based company has attracted interest from other firms in the industry and financial investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is private. CP Group is controlled by billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, who has a net worth of $4.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He is the biggest shareholder and senior chairman of CP Group, Thailand’s largest closely held company, with interests in agriculture, food, retail and telecommunications. True IDC is a carrier-neutral data center and cloud service provider, and is part of CP Group’s digital unit Ascend Corp. Non-binding offers are due as early as this week, the report said.
An external representative for True IDC declined to comment. CP Group was exploring a divestment of True IDC that could fetch around $200 million, Bloomberg News reported in September. The company said at the time that it had no intention of selling the business.
The unit operates four data centers in Thailand and one in Myanmar. Data centres are attracting interest from investors as digital adoption globally has increased after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, Time Dotcom Bhd., a Malaysian telecommunications provider, is learnt to be exploring strategic options for its data centre business that could be worth more than $500 million.
