Singaporean telco Singtel has confirmed it is in talks to acquire ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC).

In a statement to the Singaporean SGX stock exchange, the company said: “Singtel, as part of a consortium, is having ongoing discussions in relation to STT GDC Pte. Ltd.”

News that investment firm KKR was interested in acquiring more of STT GDC surfaced over the summer. This week, further reports said KKR and Singtel are “in advanced talks” to buy more than 80 percent of STT GDC – which would give them full ownership – for more than S$5 billion ($3.9 billion).

The company noted, however, that it regularly explores and reviews business opportunities, projects, and proposals relating to its business and investments, and there was “no certainty” that such discussions would lead to any deal.

“Investors in Singtel securities should exercise caution in their review of any media reports relating to potential transactions involving Singtel ahead of any definitive announcements by Singtel when dealing with Singtel securities,” the company said.

Headquartered in Singapore, STT GDC is a data center provider with more than 95 sites across 11 geographies and points of presence in over 20 major business markets. The company currently has a total combined capacity of 1.7GW of IT load.

KKR and Singtel invested a combined S$1.75bn (US$1.3bn) in STT GDC last year. KKR currently owns about 14 percent of the firm, while Singtel owns more than four percent. Temasek-owned ST Telemedia owns the majority of STT GDC. Like STT, Singtel is majority owned by Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore government.

This week also saw Singtel sell some of its shareholdings in Indian telco Bharti Airtel. The company sold 51 million shares for S$1.5 billion (US$1.15bn). The deal represented around 0.8 percent of Bharti Airtel’s total shares. Following this transaction, Singtel will hold a 27.5 percent stake in Airtel, valued at an estimated S$51 billion (US$39.1bn)

Arthur Lang, Singtel’s group CFO, said, “Singtel has been working closely with Bharti Enterprises to gradually equalize our effective stake in Airtel over time. These transactions allow us to unlock value when appropriate, yet continue to retain a significant stake in Airtel and remain invested in India's burgeoning digital economy.

"With this transaction, our active capital management programme has generated S$5.6 billion (US$4.3bn), more than half of our new mid-term asset recycling target of S$9 billion (US$6.91bn). This gives us the financial flexibility to strengthen our balance sheet, fund growth opportunities in digital infrastructure and digital services while ensuring that we can continue to grow dividends on a sustainable basis.”