Japan’s NTT files billion-dollar Reit listing with MAS; IPO set to be SGX’s biggest in four years

Japanese telco Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) is spinning off some of its data centres into a Singapore-listed real estate investment trust, or S-Reit, marking what is likely to be the largest Singapore listing in four years.

The last company to list at this size was the US$977 million initial public offering (IPO) of Digital Core Reit in 2021.

The portfolio will comprise six of its data centre assets, initially indicated to be transferred to the Singapore Reit called NTT DC Reit for about US$1.6 billion.

The initial portfolio of NTT DC Reit comprises six data centres – four located in the US, one in Austria and one in Singapore.

In its prospectus lodged with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Friday (Jun 27), NTT said that the manager was listing as it believed there is significant growth in the global data centre market with further headroom for expansion.

This includes consistent growth in data centre pricing globally, alongside increasing capacity absorption and declining vacancies as well as a surge of capital allocation into data centres alongside increasing demand and consistent pricing growth.

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The IPO portfolio is also strategically diversified across key global markets, including the top 10 markets in the US and Asia-Pacific.

NTT has a market capitalisation of around US$90 billion.

Cornerstone investors include Singapore’s sovereign wealth investor GIC, AM Squared, Pinpoint Asset Management and Ghisallo Master Fund.

NTT has one of the largest global data divisions, covering more than 20 countries and regions across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

NTT’s proposed listing comes after a subdued market in recent years, where delistings have outpaced new listings on the local bourse, with more Singapore companies choosing to list on global exchanges.

It also comes after the MAS’ equities market review group put forward several proposals to boost the local equity market earlier this year. The proposals by the group, which was set up last August, include introducing tax incentives to spur more listings and a S$5 billion investment fund for asset managers to improve the bourse’s liquidity.