The Abraaj Group has exited its investment in Thailand-based Unitrio Technology.
The group sold its stake in Unitrio to NTT Facilities (NTTF), a member of the Japanese Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), which provides engineering services for data centres, telecommunications, commercial buildings and related facilities.
Abraaj, through its first South East Asia Fund, acquired its stake in Unitrio in 2010. The investment in Unitrio was predicated on the increasing demand within Thailand for high quality data centres due to rapidly growing internet penetration rates, the proliferation of mobile and other devices, increasing virtualisation of IT infrastructure, and the adoption of cloud computing in the public and private sectors, factors that are leading to substantially greater requirements for data hosting and storage capacity across the country.
While the ICT sector has developed significantly over the past two years, substantial growth remains with internet penetration in Thailand currently at 30 per cent, which is substantially below penetration rates of greater than 70 per cent in more developed markets. Recent floods in Thailand have also shown the need for additional back-up facilities across the country with domestic service providers seeking to expand and diversify their offerings. Within an ASEAN context, the growth expected in Thailand is second only to Indonesia, with the amount of data centre space expected to almost double and data centre revenues expected to grow by over three times by 2015.
Srisant Chitvaranund, managing director, The Abraaj Group, says: “Our investment in Unitro was well timed as we capitalised on rapid growth in the domestic ICT market. In Unitrio, we were able to find the right partners who had a vision for their company and we helped them execute an extremely successful strategy and business plan. We believe that NTTF, given their strategic interests in the sector, is the right partner for Unitrio going forward and will enable the company to achieve their next level of growth.”
Metee Anivat, chief executive officer of Unitrio, says: “Abraaj’s investment in Unitrio helped transform the company from what was a Thai family business into a leading designer and builder of data centres. Abraaj assisted us with enhancing our strategic planning, corporate governance and information systems, as well as improving our overall operational efficiency. We are now well positioned to leverage the numerous opportunities in the domestic market and look forward to our new partnership with NTTF.”
