{"text":[[{"start":9.9,"text":"Foreign private equity firms are cashing out of China’s data centre sector after years of betting billions on the country’s cloud computing boom, as political and regulatory pressures make overseas ownership of digital infrastructure increasingly difficult."}],[{"start":24.950000000000003,"text":"Princeton Digital Group, which is backed by Warburg Pincus, is launching a sale of its China assets that could fetch as much as $1bn, according to three people familiar with the process, adding to a string of exits by global funds including Bain Capital and Carlyle. "}],[{"start":40.900000000000006,"text":"A sale of PDG, which owns data centres across six Chinese cities, would mark the near end of a decade-long push by global buyout firms to invest directly into China’s digital infrastructure. "}],[{"start":52.900000000000006,"text":"From 2017, buyout groups including Bain, Warburg Pincus and Carlyle poured billions into the Chinese data centre sector, drawn by booming demand from cloud providers owned by Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance. The assets promised the kind of steady, infrastructure-like returns prized by private equity."}],[{"start":73.10000000000001,"text":"Even as China’s cloud market continues to expand, Beijing’s tightening cyber security and data protection regime made foreign ownership of critical digital infrastructure politically fraught."}],[{"start":85.4,"text":"Rising AI-driven demand has meanwhile lifted valuations, giving international investors an opportunity to sell to domestic buyers and redeploy capital into politically safer markets elsewhere in Asia where they also see significant growth."}],[{"start":101.2,"text":"That shift has already produced some of the industry’s biggest recent deals. Last year Bain sold its Chinese data centre assets to a local consortium led by Shenzhen Dongyangguang Industry for $4bn, while retaining the non-China operations of Bridge Data Centers, the regional platform it had built through a series of acquisitions. "}],[{"start":120.85,"text":"Based on valuation multiples from Bain’s earlier China data centre sale, PDG’s assets could fetch up to $1bn, according to people familiar with the process."}],[{"start":131.1,"text":"Carlyle invested in VNET Group, a Chinese digital infrastructure company, through convertible bonds in 2020. The Washington-based fund has steadily reduced its exposure over the past two years through refinancing backed by Chinese state capital and an eventual buyout by battery maker CATL."}],[{"start":148.7,"text":"As global private equity firms orchestrate a wave of exits from mainland China’s data centre businesses, they are redirecting tens of billions of dollars into the rest of Asia."}],[{"start":159.45,"text":"Malaysia — particularly Johor, near Singapore — has become one of the fastest-growing data centre hubs in the region, with private equity firms rushing to build infrastructure aimed at servicing clients in Singapore and China."}],[{"start":172.7,"text":"Japan has also become a key market for regional expansion because of its regulatory stability and weak yen. Blackstone led a consortium to acquire Sydney-based AirTrunk for $15bn and is using the platform to expand in Tokyo and Osaka to support cloud providers including Microsoft and Google."}],[{"start":192.5,"text":"India has also emerged as a target for private equity firms seeking long-term growth. After selling its Chinese data centres, Bain redirected capital into Bridge Data Centers, its non-China platform, to bankroll greenfield developments across the country."}],[{"start":207.35,"text":"Warburg Pincus and PDG did not respond to requests for comment."}],[{"start":221.14999999999998,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779425216_6720.mp3"}