Chinese data centre operator Chindata to go private with Bain Capital in $3.16 billion deal

Chinese knowledge centre operator Chindata Group mentioned it might go personal in a sweetened $3.16 billion cope with investor Bain Capital, ending months of uncertainty over its future after receiving curiosity from China Merchants Group.

The all-cash supply from Bain Capital, Chindata’s largest investor with 87% of voting energy and 42% of excellent shares, values every American depository share of the corporate at $8.60.

That is a 7.5% improve from the personal fairness agency’s proposal in June. It additionally marks a premium of about 43% to the closing worth of Chindata shares earlier than the preliminary strategy was made public.

US-listed shares of Chindata, which operates knowledge centres in China, India and Southeast Asia, rose 3% after the bell.

Data centres operators have loved a surge in demand in recent times as extra companies take to the online. They additionally stand to profit from this yr’s rise of synthetic intelligence companies equivalent to ChatGPT, which require huge computing energy.

Bain Capital, which took Chindata public on the Nasdaq in September 2020, mentioned earlier this yr it won’t promote any of its shares within the firm after it obtained a bid from China Merchants Capital for $3.4 billion.

The go-private deal introduced on Friday will probably be funded by a mix of money and debt financing supplied by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Chindata mentioned. It is anticipated to shut throughout the fourth quarter of 2023 or early subsequent yr.

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