GDS Seeing Recovery in China and Strong Growth From International Business

We expect GDS Holdings to continue to purchase and build data centers in and around its focus Tier 1 Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Chengdu, and Chongqing. As its network of interconnected data centers grows it can more easily cater to the demand from its key cloud service provider customers allowing them to expand in a flexible way in their key markets. This also enables key enterprise customers to deploy their hybrid clouds in close proximity to the networked nodes of leading public clouds. The company is also excited about its international expansion into Southeast Asia. The company has completed an equity funding deal for its international business, raising USD 672 million for 47.3% of the business from private equity investors. Management has not ruled out further private equity capital raises for the international business and an IPO of this business is also a possibility down the track. The creation of a listed REIT seeded by some of GDS' mature Chinese data centers is also being considered.