SK Co. and domestic private equity fund (PEF) manager IMM Investment sold the China institutional sector of global data center corporations Chindata (Chindata).
IMM Inv. said on the 5th that the sale contract for Chindata's China institutional sector invested through the "Corporate Partnership Fund" (Copa Fund) jointly created with SK Co. has been finalized. The transaction size is about $4 billion (about 5.9 trillion won). A consortium led by China's HEC Group emerged as the acquirer. The transaction is assessed as the largest ever in the local data center industry.
IMM Investment and SK Co. established the Copa Fund in 2019 with the goal of securing new growth engines, and in 2020 invested about $300 million to acquire 8.9% equity in Chindata. Considering that the corporations value at that time was about $3.3 billion, the sale of only the China business unit amounts to a recovery exceeding the principal invested.
This sale is seen as a strategic exit case carried out amid the restructuring trend of the data center industry in China. Chindata operates hyperscale data centers not only in China but also in emerging markets such as India and Malaysia, and if the sale of the remaining business units is completed, achieving a double-digit internal rate of return (IRR) is also expected.
An IMM Investment official said, "This transaction is a representative case that proves the effectiveness of our management capabilities and exit strategy for overseas real asset," adding, "We plan to continue expanding overseas investment opportunities in structurally growing industries such as digital infrastructure."