By Echo Wang
NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) – CyrusOne, a data center operator owned by KKR and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, is preparing for an initial public offering as early as 2027, in what could be one of the biggest IPOs in the sector in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter.
The private equity firms met investment banks including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley last week and the banks pitched for roles on the IPO, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are confidential.
The company has not decided how much it plans to raise or what valuation it will seek, they said, but one of the people said a public listing could raise about $5 billion. The people cautioned that discussions are at an early stage and details are subject to change.
BlackRock, KKR, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. CyrusOne had no comment.
CyrusOne would join a growing pipeline of large IPOs tied to data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure as spending on computing capacity surges. Data center operator Switch picked lead banks for a public offering that could value the company at close to $80 billion including debt.
SoftBank-backed SB Energy is also preparing for a U.S. IPO that could value it at more than $50 billion, while Brookfield-backed data center provider Csquare raised more than $1 billion in its IPO last month.
KKR and GIP took CyrusOne private in 2022 in a deal valued at about $15 billion including debt. An IPO could let them monetize their investment and give CyrusOne more capital to pay down debt it borrowed to expand its data centers.
CyrusOne operates more than 60 data center campuses across the United States, Europe and Japan. The Information previously reported that CyrusOne was preparing to interview banks.
Private equity and infrastructure investors have been ramping up investment in data centers and related infrastructure supporting the build-out.
KKR raised a record $19.2 billion for its latest infrastructure fund this month and in June launched Helix Digital Infrastructure, a new company with committed capital of more than $10 billion to finance the build-out.
(Reporting by Echo Wang in New York, additional reporting by Isla Binnie in New York; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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