(Sept 2): Wren House Infrastructure Management is nearing a deal to buy GIC Pte Ltd's stake in a European data-centre joint venture, people with knowledge of the matter said. 

The direct infrastructure investment arm of Kuwait Investment Authority plans to acquire the 80% stake for about €700 million (US$810 million or RM3.28 billion), according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Deliberations are ongoing and Wren House could still decide to pull out, the people said. Representatives of Wren House and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, declined to comment. The joint venture operates data centres in Europe under the xScale brand. 

Equinix Inc, which owns the remaining 20% stake in the joint venture, plans to stay invested, the people said. The company has 101 data centres across the globe, according to its website, with European facilities in countries including Bulgaria, France, Germany and the UK.

Bloomberg News reported in February that GIC is working with Eastdil Secured LLC to gauge buyer interest in its stake. Equinix and GIC established the business in 2019 to develop and operate hyperscale data centres in Europe for large cloud providers.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee