KKR just closed its biggest Asia Pacific infrastructure bet ever. The private equity giant and Singapore Telecommunications are acquiring the remaining 82% stake in data center operator ST Telemedia Global Data Centres for S$6.6 billion ($5.1 billion), valuing the company at S$13.8 billion. The deal comes as global investors pour record capital into data centers to support the exploding AI infrastructure buildout that's reshaping tech's physical backbone.
KKR is making its largest infrastructure play in Asia Pacific history, and the timing tells you everything about where smart money sees the next decade unfolding. The New York-based private equity firm announced Wednesday it's teaming with Singapore Telecommunications to acquire the remaining 82% of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres they don't already own for S$6.6 billion ($5.1 billion), according to KKR's statement.
The deal values STT GDC at S$13.8 billion and cements KKR's conviction that digital infrastructure - the unsexy server farms powering AI models and cloud services - represents one of the most compelling investment themes of the next generation. When the transaction closes, KKR will hold 75% of STT GDC while Singtel takes 25%, factoring in the conversion of existing preference shares both investors already held.
"Digital infrastructure remains one of the most compelling long-term investment themes globally," David Luboff, co-head of KKR Asia Pacific and head of the firm's regional infrastructure division, said in the statement. He's betting on STT GDC's diversified footprint and development pipeline to capitalize on what's become a feeding frenzy in the data center market.
And it is a frenzy. Global data center dealmaking hit a fresh record last year, with S&P Global reporting that over $61 billion flowed into the sector - barely edging past 2024's $60.8 billion. The surge is driven almost entirely by the rush to build infrastructure capable of handling energy-intensive AI workloads, as companies from to scramble to secure compute capacity.
