Singapore-based property investment manager SC Capital Partners is in negotiation to acquire British data centre group Global Switch. SC Capital Partners is talks with with advisors and global real asset manager CapitaLand Investment to acquire the UK company.
Global Switch is now owned by Chinese steelmaker Jiangsu Shagang Group.
An agreement is pending, as per the sources. However, it is not finalized as per market situation. The sources added that a final agreement may not be reached in the talks.
The deal was expected to value Global Switch between US$4 billion and US$5 billion. Sources further added that SC Capital Partners is also now the sole bidder.
A request for comment from an International Switch representative was not immediately answered. Also, the requests for comment from SC Capital and Jiangsu Shagang received no immediate response.
Retooling the Digital Infrastructure that Investors Want to Invest In
There are plenty of bigger, global macroeconomic challenges at work, however, there is still very clearly an on-going and investor dollar tethering to critical, digital infrastructure. The digital infrastructure data centres have attracted since the ever-growing demand for AI and cloud services.
SC Capital Partners Portfolio & CapitaLand Investment Stake
This is since it acquired by SC Capital Partners. SC Capital Partners is formed on 2004 with roughly USD 6 billion of total investments. This is through more than 60 institutional investors around the world. In November, for instance, Singapore’s CapitaLand Investment said that a subsidiary had “acquired a 40 per cent stake in SC Capital Partners for S$280 million.” The agreement also features a call option for CapitaLand Investment to purchase the 60 per cent stake in SC Capital Partners in tranches over the next five years.
Previous Sale Talks of Global Switch
Global Switch said in 2022 its shareholders were exploring options that could include selling the company. In 2023 as well, Global Switch was in negotiations with Swedish private equity group EQT. Yet a deal fell through. The final bids valued the company at around $8 billion, inclusive of debt, according to people familiar with the matter.
Upon the sale of their operations in Australia
In 2024 HMC Capital acquired Global Switch’s Australian net business at a price of A$1.94 billion. This had come a full four years after the Australian government had prohibited security agencies from using Global Switch Australia due to data security issues.
UK Businesses and Funding They need
Global Switch, in last December, said it had hired UBS in October to help raise capital for its UK business. The above-mentioned currency conversion rate in the report is S$1 = US$1.3483
