KKR Is Close to Investing $400m in Subsea Cable Firm OMS

(Bloomberg) -- KKR & Co. is nearing a deal to invest about $400 million in Malaysian subsea cable company OMS Group, people familiar with the matter said, in what could be the latest transaction in the digital infrastructure industry in Asia.

The US-based private equity giant is in advanced talks to buy a stake in OMS, which could be valued at about $1 billion in the deal, the people said. The fresh capital can help accelerate the subsea cable firm’s expansion plans and an agreement could be reached soon, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private.

OMS installs undersea cable for technology and telecommunications companies and has offices in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, according to its website.

Discussions could still be delayed or fall apart and details of a deal haven’t been finalized, the people said. A representative for KKR declined to comment, while a representative for OMS didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Global investors have been eyeing assets including data centers, phone towers, fiber, and submarine cable in Asia as increasing digitization in the region sparks demand for infrastructure. Earlier this year, PLDT Inc., based in the Philippines, agreed to sell a portfolio of telecommunications towers to a firm backed by KKR for over 12.1 billion pesos ($213 million). Data center companies including ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, which is backed by Temasek Holdings Pte, and China’s GDS Holdings Ltd. are also seeking to raise funds by bringing in new global investors, Bloomberg News has reported.

OMS has done subsea cable installation and maintenance projects for the past three decades, including the Papua New Guinea National Submarine Fiber Cable Network and the South-East Japan Asia Japan Cable System 2, according to its website. Its fleet includes Cable Vigilance, a 5,448 gross tonnage cable-laying and repair ship.

The Malaysian company had been weighing a listing in Kuala Lumpur as soon as this year in a deal that could have helped it raise as much as $300 million, Bloomberg News reported last year.