STT Global Data Centres India Pvt. is considering an initial public offering in Mumbai that could raise as much as $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter, as investor demand for digital infrastructure accelerates. The data center service provider backed by Tata Communications Ltd. has invited investment banks to pitch for advisory roles, with presentations expected next week an...
STT Global Data Centres India Pvt. is considering an initial public offering in Mumbai that could raise as much as $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter, as investor demand for digital infrastructure accelerates. The data center service provider backed by Tata Communications Ltd. has invited investment banks to pitch for advisory roles, with presentations expected next week and appointments targeted by the end of the month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The company is seeking a valuation of $5 billion to $5.5 billion and may file its draft prospectus within the next two to three months, the people said. The IPO could take place as early as the end of this year, they added. Deliberations are ongoing and details, including the size and timing of the offering, could change, the people said. A representative for STT Global Data Centres didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Interest in data center assets has surged globally, fueled by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. In India, total investment in the industry is projected to exceed $100 billion by 2027, according to CBRE Group Inc. Companies including Alphabet Inc. ’s Google and OpenAI have outlined expansion plans in the country, while Reliance Industries Ltd. is also pursuing a large-scale data center project that could cost as much as $30 billion. STT India would become one of a handful of pure-play data center operators to tap the Indian public market, along with peers such as Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd. and Yotta Data Services Pvt. Sify is preparing to launch its offering soon, while Yotta has recently appointed banks for a potential IPO. Founded in 2007 as Tata Communications Data Centres, the company is a step-down subsidiary of Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, which holds a 74% stake, according to rating agency ICRA. Tata Communications owns the remaining 26%. The company operates mo...
Luis Alvarez/DigitalVision via Getty Images US demand for automobiles and auto parts has been straining under higher inflationary costs, but buyers, both consumers and manufacturers, will face another level of sticker shock if the war in the Middle East extends into the summer. Even before the war-driven spike in gasoline prices, the US automotive industry was steeling for a tough year. Prior to t...
Luis Alvarez/DigitalVision via Getty Images US demand for automobiles and auto parts has been straining under higher inflationary costs, but buyers, both consumers and manufacturers, will face another level of sticker shock if the war in the Middle East extends into the summer. Even before the war-driven spike in gasoline prices, the US automotive industry was steeling for a tough year. Prior to the start of the conflict, Journal of Commerce parent company S&P Global forecast that vehicle sales would fall 2% from the previous year due to a long list of headwinds for the industry, including higher borrowing costs for vehicle buyers and steel tariffs upping input prices. But already relatively high prices for new vehicles and auto parts — the cheapest new 2026 model car available is $20,550, according to CARFAX — will increase significantly if the war continues through May, according to a mid-March report from S&P Global. If the war lasts through the end of 2026, that elevated pricing will negatively impact consumer demand and, by extension, container volumes. A war scenario of more than a year will result in continued inflation and declining demand until prices reach a new “set point,” S&P Global analysts said. Containerized US imports of automobiles and auto parts fell 9.4% year-over-year in 2025, dragging the five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) down to 3.8%, according to PIERS, a Journal of Commerce sister product within S&P Global. Exports, meanwhile, spiked 15.3%, boosting the five-year CAGR to 6.6%. The majority of seaborne vehicle imports and exports travel via roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) ships; those volumes are not captured by PIERS data. The uncertainties surrounding the length of the war will undoubtedly impact the US container trade in vehicles and parts as importers and exporters in the automotive sector review and possibly modify their business plans, said Chris Hopson, principal analyst for the global light vehicle forecast group at S&P Global. “2...
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. forecast a third straight year of record profit, although it sees the pace of earnings growth slowing as the Middle East conflict casts a shadow over the outlook for Japanese banks. The nation’s third-largest lender expects net income to rise about 4% to ¥1.3 trillion ($8.2 billion) in the year ending March 2027, it said in a statement on Friday. That compares with the ...
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. forecast a third straight year of record profit, although it sees the pace of earnings growth slowing as the Middle East conflict casts a shadow over the outlook for Japanese banks. The nation’s third-largest lender expects net income to rise about 4% to ¥1.3 trillion ($8.2 billion) in the year ending March 2027, it said in a statement on Friday. That compares with the ¥1.32 trillion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. It also announced plans to buy back as much as ¥100 billion of shares. Mizuho joins larger rival Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. in projecting that earnings will scale new heights as rising interest rates spur loan profitability. Still, the energy crisis stemming from the Iran war threatens to put a strain on Japan’s economy, which could curtail credit quality and demand. For the year ended March, Mizuho’s net income rose 41% to ¥1.25 trillion, compared with analysts’ estimate for ¥1.2 trillion. It booked ¥54.7 billion in “forward-looking” reserves tied to uncertainty over the situation in the Middle East. Earlier this week, Sumitomo Mitsui forecast annual profit to climb more than 7% to ¥1.7 trillion. But CEO Toru Nakashima struck a cautious tone, saying his bank needs to be more selective in making loans given a slowdown in deposit growth. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. , the largest Japanese lender, is scheduled to report results later Friday.
Kioxia Holdings Corp. , the world’s best performing major stock this year, said it would list its shares in the US as it reaps the benefits of a global memory chip shortage that’s ratcheted up prices of the vital component to historic highs. The company said it was preparing to list American depositary shares as it forecast operating profit of ¥1.3 trillion ($8.2 billion) for the quarter ending in...
Kioxia Holdings Corp. , the world’s best performing major stock this year, said it would list its shares in the US as it reaps the benefits of a global memory chip shortage that’s ratcheted up prices of the vital component to historic highs. The company said it was preparing to list American depositary shares as it forecast operating profit of ¥1.3 trillion ($8.2 billion) for the quarter ending in June, surpassing the average analyst estimate. It also posted record earnings of ¥596.8 billion for the quarter ending in March, beating estimates. The Tokyo-based firm’s meteoric rise encapsulates the booming demand for memory as hyperscalers rush to build AI infrastructure. Kioxia’s shares are up about 300% so far this year. Analysts on average expect the company to record an operating profit of ¥4.2 trillion in 2026, which would put it above Toyota Motor Corp. as Japan’s top profit generator. The former unit of Toshiba Corp. ’s chip business has historically focused on NAND, the fast storage technology that replaced hard drives in everything from PCs and laptops to large-scale data centers. Rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. also make DRAM, which performs a similar function. However, Korean firms have recently allocated more resources to high bandwidth memory, a component of advanced AI processors, allowing Kioxia to field more orders in the NAND market. Investors have rushed to buy Kioxia’s shares since their debut in December 2024 because they view NAND as the next chip component to benefit from the AI boom, said Iwai Cosmo Securities analyst Kazuyoshi Saito. “Kioxia’s NAND has strengths including production costs that are 20%-30% lower than those of its competitors, higher storage capacity per unit area, and data read and write speeds that are 10%-20% faster than rival products,” he said.