NTT, Tokyo Century form JV for data centre business in India

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Japanese firms NTT Global Data Centers and Tokyo Century on Wednesday announced plans to collaborate for a data centre business in India through a Singapore-based joint venture. As part of the plan, NTT and Tokyo Century Corporation (Tokyo Century) will collaborate in India's data centre businesses.

Japan-based NTT Global Data Centers Holding Asia Pt. Ltd. (GDC HC) will divest 75 per cent of its shares in NTT Global Data Centers Holding Asia BOM8 Pte. Ltd (SPV) to Tokyo Century and form a special purpose vehicle, according to a joint statement by the two companies. "NTT and Tokyo Century agreed that combining the strengths of both companies and jointly operating and promoting data centres will enhance corporate value. Tokyo Century will be the first joint investor in NTT's data centre business," a joint statement by the two companies said.

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GDC HC established BOM 8 will hold assets related to the data centre business in Mumbai, India through an SPV newly established in Singapore in 2020. The SPV is developing a nine-story data centre with a total building area of over 310,000 square feet and critical IT load of 24 MW. The Singapore based SPV will become a joint venture of GDC HC and Tokyo Century, with Tokyo Century acquiring 75 per cent of SPV's outstanding common shares.

Both Japanese firms will jointly own the data centre's assets currently held by NTT Global Data Centers Holding BOM8 Private Limited (BOM8) – a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Singapore based SPV between NTT GDC HC and Tokyo Century. "The data centre market in India is expected to grow rapidly due to the government's promotion of 5G services and the growth of the e-commerce market. Mumbai,India is an area where many data centers are planned to be developed in the future, and the collaboration between NTT and Tokyo Century in data center would be a significant project in India," the statement said.

The data centre, located only 30 minutes from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, is expected to be completed in February 2022 and will accommodate large-scale cloud service providers known as hyperscalers.