Macquarie courts big name PE for AirTrunk sale

Airtrunk’s sale process is about to begin. Picture: iStock.

Global buyout funds including Blackstone, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Brookfield are all believed to be signing confidential documents to take a look at the $5bn data centre provider AirTrunk, say sources.

Other suitors that will be signing up are believed to be GIP while Australian superannuation funds including AustralianSuper and IFM are also thought to be preparing to look, although it’s unclear how serious their level of interest will be.

Anticipation has been building for some time for Macquarie Group and Goldman Sachs to launch the sale process of AirTrunk, but it had earlier been delayed.

Sources close to the deal say among the interested parties are super funds, infrastructure investors and industry rivals.

It is understood that on offer is over 50 per cent of the business and the sale process is expected to get underway in earnest in April, say sources.

Blackstone has so far been considered the front runner to buy the business and is believed to be poised to appoint Morgan Stanley and another investment bank.

AirTrunk, partly owned by Macquarie Group, is so far is thought to be worth about $5bn, and it’s a big cheque for any suitor.

The other owner is PSP along with the founder, ex Next DC executive Robin Khuda.

Yet if only half is for sale, it’s more manageable, although another possibility is that consortiums form to buy the business.

Currently, AirTrunk has over 1.4 gigawatts of announced data centre capacity across 11 sites and a pipeline for further capacity.

Documents are being signed so that interested parties can gain limited confidential information on AirTrunk, as well as potential introductions to management.

It is considered the best-in-class hyperscale data centre platforms for large cloud, content and enterprise customers across the Asia-Pacific, launching its first hyperscale data centre in western Sydney.

It operates in Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore.

KMD Brands

The result of Rip Curl and Kathmandu clothing owner KMD Brands saw the group enter loss making territory as its net debt hit $NZ96.2m against a $341m market value.

It says it has about $NZ190m of funding headroom, but investors still remain nervous.

Yet they say an equity raising would not be supported at the current share price levels and the hope for the company is that it’s past its worst amid what is further evidence of soft economic conditions in New Zealand.

Compounding the problem for KMD Brands is that rival Macpac, which is owned by Super Retail Group, has been substantially growing market share.