Abraaj exits Thailand’s Unitrio to Japan’s NTT
The Abraaj Group has exited Thailand-based data center provider Unitrio Technology to NTT Facilities (NTTF), a unit of Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT).
The original investment in the company was made in 2010 by Aureos Southeast Asia Fund, a vehicle run by Aureos Capital until its acquisition by Abraaj in February last year. Aureos invested $2.2 million in the company for an undisclosed stake.
In a release, Abraaj said the investment was made in response to increasing demand within Thailand for high quality data centers. This was driven by rapidly growing internet penetration rates, the proliferation of smartphones and other devices, increasing virtualization of IT infrastructure, and the adoption of cloud computing in the public and private sectors.
Internet penetration in Thailand is currently at 30%, still considerably below rates of 70% and above in more developed markets. The growth expected in Thailand is second only to Indonesia among Southeast Asian countries. The amount of data center space needed is expected to almost double by 2015, while data center revenues are expected to treble.
Unitrio was formed in 1980 as a distributor of UPS (uninterruptible power supply) systems and subsequently became a distributor of data center and telecommunications equipment.
"Our investment in Unitro was well timed as we capitalized on rapid growth in the domestic ICT market," said Srisant Chitvaranund, managing director with Abraaj and formerly a partner with Aureos. "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."
Unitrio was the 15th investment from Aureos Southeast Asian Fund, which is now in its exit phase. Other recent exits include restaurant chain Hot Pot, which floated on the Stock Exchange of Thailand last December, and Bangkok's Vejthani Hosptial, which was sold to regional healthcare chain KPJ Healthcare in December generating a 3x money multiple.
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